


To Win  Football Game

by FoolocracyFunForFools



Category: The Hardy Boys
Genre: A bit of stockholm syndrome I guess, Bullet wound, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Fenton not realizing he is not a great dad, Frank feels bad, Frank wants to make amends with Joe, Hurt/Comfort, Joe gets hurt a lot, Joe not feeling his dads love, Trapped, the begeinning is bad writing but it gets better later on
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 09:14:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 32,769
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30019509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FoolocracyFunForFools/pseuds/FoolocracyFunForFools
Summary: Joe doesn't like football that much but his dad thinks that Joe wants to win the big game, but what happens when Joe gets targeted for revenge? Joe gets hurt on the football field then he gets taken. Joe tries to fight to survive it and as hidden emotions about his father come to light. Can Frank bring Joe back, safe from the enemies that hunt and keep him? only Hardy Boys!originally posted on Fanfiction.com under the name of RightPerspectiveofwhump.
Relationships: Fenton Hardy & Con Riley, Frank &Fenton Hardy, Frank &Joe Hardy, Joe & Con Riley, Joe& Fenton Hardy, Joe& OC
Comments: 29
Kudos: 4





	1. The Morning

7:30 A.M Thursday

Joe Hardy in the upstairs bathroom of the Hardy house, situated on Elm street, gave himself a final look over in the bathroom mirror. He had to hurry to snag a quick breakfast before school, but he had to smile just a bit when he saw his reflection. What with his vibrant sparkling blue eyes, his beach blond almost military style hair, and long muscular 6-foot frame. All of this and he was only 17 years old. His older brother Frank thinks Joe is immature, but he couldn't help it.

Joe leaned in closer to the mirror and started making faces at the mirror. He couldn't help it! He just loved seeing his reflection making faces back at him. Leaning back from the mirror, he sighed. Brushing his fingers through his hair one more time, he turned way. Satisfied that he was fit for school he turned to leave. Joe grabbed the doorknob and started turning it to leave.

What he didn't expect was when he finished turning the knob, the door would be shoved back in his face. Catching the side of his nose and cracking it hard against the wooden door. Yelping a little cry of pain, Joe stumbled back a little stunned by the sudden door movement and the pain now emanating from his nose. Not to mention the feeling of warm blood that was trickling out of his nose and slowly making its way down his face.

Joe put a hand on the bathroom wall to steady himself as he struggled with the pain in his nose. It wasn't like he had never been hit in the nose before. He had, more times than he had liked to count. But it was the fact that he hadent expected the door to be slammed back in his face like that. Sure, he had martial arts training, hand to hand combat, and he had observation skills most people didn't. it was just…

He didn't expect it to happen in his family's house Joe guessed. His thoughts had made him lose focus again. It had been happening more often lately. Sure, Joe was a boisterous ball of energy. Everybody knew that. But his thoughts sometimes went as fast as he did on the football field. They would go so fast and popping in out of random places, Joe would just lose focus on reality for a minute.

Shrugging his shoulders in exasperation he remembered his nose and put his free hand to his nose. He felt it gingerly, making sure it wasn't broken. It wasn't broken, but Damn, it hurt like hell. Joe wiped the trickle of blood of his face and held his nose, head leaned back in hopes to stop the bleeding. Realizing he hadent even looked up to see who had opened the door, he looked over.

Joe saw something that made him put his head upright, forget the pain in his nose, and stare at with mouth hanging wide open. The person who had done the injustice to Joe's poor throbbing nose was none other than Frank. His big brother. Frank on the other hand was still standing with the doorknob in his hand and a look of dumb confoundment and horror at what he had done.

Frank couldn't speak because he was horrified that he had just hit Joe in the face with the bathroom door. Joe couldn't speak out of utter shock and surprise. Frank finally came to his senses and opened his mouth to apologize profusely to Joe, when Joe's mouth shut close and he stood up with a strange expression on his face. Frank immediately shut his mouth and waited, doorknob still in hand for the yelling at he was sure to get from Joe.

Joe walked slowly to Frank and stood staring at him, saying nothing. Frank was getting nervous when Joe hadent said a word but stood there staring. Frank opened his mouth once again to apologize, when Joe's face broke into one of his famous dazzler smiles and hugged Frank, hard.

Frank surprised but relieved hugged Joe back just as tightly until Joe let go. "Thought you weren't supposed to be back until the weekend Frank." Joe was still smiling a mile a minute and looked like he had just won the lottery, even with a slowly swelling red nose. Frank still stunned by Joe's reaction managed to sputter out "Umm… yeah the case wrapped up early and I thought I would surprise you."

"Yeah, you surprised me all right Frank." Joe rubbed his nose gently trying to ease the now strong pain coming from his nose. "Gosh Joe, I am so sorry. I thought no one was in the bathroom and the door was just shut." Frank was looking nervous again as he apologized to Joe. Frank loved his brother more than life itself, but Joe's moods could change as quickly as a flash of lightning. You could see the change coming sometimes and sometimes it comes out of the blue.

So Frank was still bracing himself in case Joe decided to yell at him for cracking his nose with the door. Seeing Frank almost imperceptibly cringe, made Joe grin wider. Frank thought Joe was going to yell at him. Sure, he was kind of mad at Frank, but he had missed his brother a lot. Their father had given a mystery to just Frank to solve in Illinois and he had been away for two weeks.

Joe had wanted to go desperately but he had football practice all week and a big game coming up on Friday. Realizing his thoughts had made him lose focus again, Joe shook his head and looked sheepishly at Frank who was now staring quizzically at Joe. "joe you okay bro? I didn't hit you that hard with the door, did I?" Frank's eyes and voice betrayed the worry he had that he had done more damage than a swelling nose to his younger brother.

Joe smiled reassuringly "Nope, I was just thinking for minute". Smiling as Joe's stomach betrayed that he hadent eaten that morning. Frank with a smile said "I am starved! Want to grab a bite to eat? Then I can drop you off at school." Joe looked at him puzzled. "I can catch the bus" "no you can't, the bus already passed us while we were talking." Joe checked his watch "Oops. Sure, but only if we hurry. My English teacher has been giving me a hard time about being late." "even though it was only like twice!" Frank looked at him with a disbelieving look on his face.

Joe cracked; he never could lie convincingly to his brother. "fine so it was like 4 times! But she doesn't have to be a stickler the latest I have been having been like a minute. Honest! Damn I think the woman hates me." Joe looked forlornly at frank with his big puppy dog blue eyes. Frank laughed and ruffled Joe's hair before Joe smacked his hand away and settled it down again with his fingers. "Alright Joe lets grab breakfast and move it."

Joe smiled appreciating that he had an awesome big brother like Frank. "Race yah" Joe said with a mischievous smile. Joe was careening down the stairs as he heard Frank catch up behind him. They both skidded to a stop in the kitchen as they smelled the breakfast their Mother had made. Their mother was tall like her boys but 5 foot 10 in height. She was also slim and a little lanky like Frank Her boys and her husband thought she was the most beautiful woman ever.

Who wouldn't say she was beautiful?

She had Joe's sparkling eyes, she had long beautiful waves of soft almost glowing golden hair, and a laugh that sounded like bells in heaven. She turned from putting pancakes on a plate to greet her boy's good morning, when she saw something that made her give a cry of surprise. "Joe" their mother asked face losing color and her eyes filling with worry. "what is that?" She asked pointing a finger right at Joe.


	2. Explaining

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Frank explains and assures his mom that Joe's sore throbbing nose was an honest accident.

Frank and Joe were stunned by their Mothers’ question and simultaneously turned to each other. That is when Frank saw what his mother had been pointing at and turned bright red with embarrassment. Joe still looking at Frank got even more confused when he saw Frank turn a bright shade of red. His brother was… blushing? But that didn’t make any sense why Frank would be blushing. 

He never blushed except whenever a pretty girl talked to him. Joe now even more confused starting looking around for thinking maybe there was girl standing in the kitchen and he had just missed her. Craning his neck around his brother and in every direction, he still couldn’t find the source of why his brother was blushing. His roving eyes finally settling on his mom’s face then Joe saw her outstretched finger and remembered her question. He peeked at his face with one eye closed and saw the injured appendage. 

Ohhh now it made sense. Joe turned to his brother once again now understanding that Frank was not blushing because there was a pretty girl present but because he had slammed the door in Joe’s face making his nose swell up. Joe glared at Frank wondering what explanation he was going to give their mom about his face. He was not being mean to Frank. Just a little payback because he had wanted to go work the case in Illinois, but his dad said it was better for only one person to work. 

Plus, his dad had pointed out grinning proudly Joe had to practice every day after school for the big Friday night football game coming up. So, Frank had gone, and he had stayed. He still couldn’t help his overactive mind thinking just a tiny part of why he didn’t go, and Frank did was because his Dad still thought he was too immature to handle a case by himself.

Shaking his head, he brought his mind back to the present and glanced from his brothers red face to his mom’s now impatient and pale face. She was after all still waiting for Frank’s or Joe’s explanation of why Joe’s face was swollen. “Um... I accidently slammed the upstairs bathroom into Joe’s face, and it got his nose.” Frank was quietly looking at the ground and refused to meet his mom’s or Joe’s eyes. 

Their mom gasped in shock and hurried over to Joe taking his head in her hands and gently prodding it checking to make sure nothing was broken. “Mom! Stop, that hurts” Joe whined in pain and gently jerked his face away from his mother’s poking fingers. She sent a glare in Frank’s direction and moved quickly to the freezer to get some ice cubes. She wrapped them in a towel and handed them to her son who immediately sat down at the table and put the towel wrapped cubes on his face to put down the swelling.

She then turned to Frank who was still standing there looking ashamed and motioned for him to sit at the table. She put the pancakes in front of both and let them finish gulping them down before she asked the question. “Frank how did you hit your brother in the face with the door? did you do it on purpose?” She was looking very worried at the last question. 

Frank looked up and stared at her in hurt and surprise. “Mom, of course it wasn’t on purpose! It was an accident. I thought the bathroom was empty and the door was just shut. So, I turned the handle, opened the door and wham. It hit Joe in the face.” “honest Mom! It was a little accident.” Frank was basically begging her to believe him. Joe was about to confirm Franks story when he started to feel drowsy.

He had a full stomach and after the rush of adrenaline he had gotten when the door connected with his face, he decided to take a quick nap. He was sure he had time for a nap before he had to get to school. So, he pillowed his head on his arms and closed his eyes. He let himself drift off and dream about running the winning play of the big game on Friday. He was after all their star running back, he thought with just a smidge of pride. Bayport High, his high school needed him.

It wasn’t that their Mom didn’t believe Frank. She knew how much her sons loved each other and how strong a bond they had. But just for safety even though she knew Frank would never hurt Joe on purpose and she hated sounding mean asking it. She just had to be sure it was an accident and nothing else. “alright Frank. I’m sorry but as your mother I just have to be sure okay?” now their Mom was pleading with Frank to understand she had not wanted to ask the question, but she had to.

Frank nodded his head in understanding and his mom smiled in agreement. She knew it was an accident and he knew she had to ask the tough questions even when they stung a little. they now turned to look at Joe who had stayed quiet through the entire conversation. Which was unusual for Joe. He couldn’t keep quiet for more than 30 seconds at a time let alone through an entire conversation. They both smiled when from under Joe’s head which he pillowed on his arms on the table. They heard a light snoring. He had fallen asleep again. 

They both smiled at each other than Frank leaned over and gently shook his brothers’ shoulder. Joe’s head snapped up quick and he stared at Frank with bewildered eyes. Then recognition hit him as he remembered the events of this morning. Their Mother warned Frank to be more careful and made sure Joe’s nose looked better than before kissing them goodbye. She also reminded Joe to put some more ice on it intravenously throughout the day to keep the swelling down. He promised to do so and ran out the door after his brother.

Realizing he still had to take Joe to school he hurried his brother out the door and into their van. Driving away they both waved at their mom standing on the front porch then settled back as Frank poured on the gas. He was eager to get Joe to school on time to help make up for his face. Frank looked over at Joe and caught him smiling at his face in the sideview mirror. 

“Joe, why are you smiling?” Frank though it was kind of weird that Joe was smiling at his swollen nose. I mean wouldn’t he be angry his nose was like that? Hell, Frank would have been at least a little annoyed at it. Joe turned to him with his blue eyes laughing as he said with a grin even bigger than that morning “Frank, I can’t wait to tell everybody that they should see the other guy”.

Joe burst out laughing as he saw the surprised expression gracing his older brothers face. Frank slowly smiled as he shook his head at his brother’s ability to see the laughter in everything. He chuckled as he thought that he had the best little brother in the entire world. It was good that Frank realized that he loved his little brother. Because forces were getting ready to put into play an evil plan at that very moment.


	3. Best Friend's Jersey Mix-up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things heat up as Joe goes to school and then the football field.

School was the usual for Joe Hardy. Apart from looks of surprise at his now black and blue nose. It was a usual day, math, physics, English, lunch period, then PT and the rest of his classes. Yep, it was normal. He had said hi to his friends, sat with his brother and their friends at lunch then sat next to his best friend Biff in the rest of his classes. Biff had been his best friend since the second grade. 

They had run into each other literally while running to get to the swing set before the bigger kids got there. After their head on collision, they had each picked themselves up and stared at each other. They didn’t move and didn’t speak, just stared sizing each other up. Joe had then promptly asked if he wanted to swing with him. Biff had smiled one of his goofy grins and had raced Joe to the swings. Since that day they had been best friends. They told each other everything. When Joe had a problem that Frank couldn’t help with or just wouldn’t understand Joe went to Biff. 

When he was having trouble first starting out in football Biff had helped him practice. Biff was a good 3 feet over 6 feet while Joe was 6 foot 1, whereas Joe had soft white bond hair, Biff had dirty blonde scruffy hair, and where Joe had vibrant blue eyes Biff had emerald green ones. They both had sparkling personalities and were always cracking jokes either to other people or to each other. They both had muscular bodies and worked out together a lot.

It was almost comical with Biff because Biff was built like a professional wrestler but couldn’t hurt a fly. Finally, at last it seemed the school day was over. Joe was eager to go out and practice on the football field. He almost ran to the locker room in his rush not to be late for practice. Don’t get me wrong Joe loved to work cases with his brother, he loved being a private detective, he did.

It was just that he didn’t have a case right now and he loved to play football too. Especially since he got to play it with his best friend. It was Biff who had gotten Joe started in football. When the coach had recruited Biff, Biff had suggested to Joe that he join too. That way they could hang out every evening after school and play ball. Joe had readily agreed to the idea of spending more time with his best friend. His parents had though it was a clever idea too.

So, he had joined and now was good at it. Joe peeled his pants and shoes off and slipped into his football uniform. He had just put on his shoulder pads and picked up his jersey to put it on when he noticed that the name on the back was Biffs last name not his. Instead of getting mad, Joe just chuckled aloud. Guess Biff as excited to practice too today, Joe thought smiling fondly at the jersey. 

Biff’s locker was right next to his and since they each knew each other’s locker combinations he must have dialed mine into mine and thought it was his. Joe chuckled again; he loved his friend, but Biff could be a little goofy sometimes. Joe put on the Jersey and was just heading out to show Biff that he was wearing his jersey and not his own when he heard it.

It sounded just like a car back firing, so Joe almost missed it. But he couldn’t miss the scream seconds later. Gun. A gun was fired. It echoed through his ears and stayed hauntingly in his mind. Joe broke into a run. He knew that scream; he knew that voice. There were more screams now, the screams of coaches and frightened students. He ran faster zipping through the cement halls and trying to get out on to the side of the field. 

Panicked football players rushed past Joe jostling and pushing him in every direction but where he wanted to go, forward. Joe pushed through hard and harder slowly breaking through the panicked wall of high school football players and breaking out into the bright afternoon sun. He looked around and saw people huddled under the bleachers and others making their way to the entrance to the locker. He yelled asking above the noise where Biff was. 

He saw several people point to the football field. He looked and what he saw took his breath away. a lone figure lying, unmoving on the football field. Through the screams he could hear people yell at him to come back that it wasn’t safe and that he was going to get killed. He didn’t care. He had to get to Biff. Make sure he was still alive. He ran faster than he had ever run before in his life. 

He zigzagged just like his father and older brother had taught him to do. It would make him a harder target for the shooter to hit. He ran closer and closer to the body until he skidded to a stop. He almost threw up when he saw his own name on the back of the jersey. The jersey was smeared in blood, a whole lot of blood. He shook his head to clear his mind which was starting to lose focus again.

He turned Biff over gently and put his ear as close to Biffs mouth as Biff’s football helmet allowed him to, he held his breath and hoped against hope that Biff was alive. He felt a small but surprisingly strong breeze caress his cheek as Biff breathed out. Relieved Joe heaved Biffs body up with a grunt and said a prayer hoping that he wasn’t aggravating Biff’s injuries. He didn’t want to move Biff without stopping the blood, but the shooter could still be around and shoot again.

Joe ran as fast as he could while zigzagging with a 6 foot 3- and 185-pound best friend thrown over his shoulder’s fireman style. Everyone else had made it inside and now cheered from the indoor shadows, yelling at Joe that he could make it. He was about 30 feet from the safety of the cement halls when he heard that sound again and this time, he knew right away what it was. A gun shot.

Joe felt something hit his right thigh and make it burn like fire just as his leg buckled and he pitched forward falling to the grass, so close to safety. He couldn’t put his hands out to catch himself because he was still holding onto Biff. So, he fell forward and hit the side of his head hard enough to make him see stars. He was now pinned under Biffs giant muscle and full football uniformed body. His leg burned like well he had just been shot and now his vision was blurring. Joe tried to pull Biff of him and get up, but he was now to exhausted from his run back to the school and his leg hurt something awful now. 

Joe started to fade into black wondering why the shooter shot Biff then him. The last thing he faintly heard before complete darkness was the familiar sound of his brother calling his name. No, his brother screaming his name and he blurredly saw a figure make a break from the locker entrance towards him and Biff. Joe opened his mouth to call for Frank in relieve when his eyes rolled back and then there was darkness.


	4. The Darkness

Joe slipped in and out of unconsciousness. Blurred, distorted, sounds seemed to rumble inside his head. They would be right next to him then faint and far away. His eyelids stuck to his eyes like glue and his tongue wasn’t much better off. He tried to make sense of the sounds, but he was too tired, and his leg hurt like hell. 

Sirens fading then getting stronger, yelling back and forth and it enwrapped Joe, engines roaring closer and closer until Joe was afraid, he was going to be run over and crushed. He tried to move to struggle to get out of the way, but his body wouldn’t listen to his brain’s commands. Then Franks voice rang in Joe’s head as clear as crystal. He was saying something about an ambulance. Joe suddenly felt a giant weight lifted of his back and shoulders.

He numbly felt his body being carefully rolled over and someone asking him if he was awake. He tried to move, to speak, to do anything but lay there in darkness but he couldn’t. he thought he heard the words paint and gun but that didn’t make any sense to his muddled brain. He felt himself being rolled onto something that was plastic then he was being carried into a vehicle. The ambulance Joe guessed. Joe was relieved when he once again heard Franks voice telling him it was okay and that he was going to be waiting at the hospital for him. 

Joe wanted to call out to Frank so bad. He didn’t want to be left alone in the darkness without Frank. Ever since Joe had been a little kid, he had been afraid of the dark. He just didn’t like it and it didn’t like him. When he was in the dark his imagination ran wild and his overactive brain went into overdrive. It freaked him out to no end that his mind could just run wild sometimes. He couldn’t stop it, so it just ran on and on and It had always frightened Joe.

It still did in fact, just not so much except for now of course when he was alone and confused. When he was a kid he had snuck from his room and gone into Franks room. He had tapped frank on the shoulder and asked in a small voice if he could sleep with him that night. Frank had never been able to refuse Joe. So, every night until Joe was 9, he had slept in Franks bed. 

He had let the warmth of his brothers’ body, his heartbeat, and his soft, slow breathing relax his mind and relieve the never-ending flow of activity. It had stopped when his parents wanted to know why he couldn’t sleep in his own bed. So Joe had stopped, he had started to try and sleep in his own bed but it took until he was about 11 to be able to fully sleep through the night without waking up and seeing shadows and monsters jump out at him.

Joe’s mind then turned to Biff. Biff… he hoped he was okay. There was a lot of blood on the back of his uniform. Wait. It was his uniform. Biff was wearing his uniform, which mean that the shooter shot Biff thinking it was Joe he was shooting. Joe was puzzled though why anyone would want to shoot him. His dad. 

His dad used to be a New York police detective before he retired and became a private detective in Bayport. He was a hell of a good cop and had put a lot of unsavory characters away behind bars. So, it reasoned that bad and evil people wanted to kill him or hurt him by hurting his family. His dad had raised both of his sons to be extra careful and to always be on the look out for things or people that just didn’t seem right to them. 

His dad’s name was Fenton Hardy, and he was a good dad in Joe’s book. Joe loved his father but sometimes felt as if he always had to compete with Frank for his dad’s approval. Frank was the one who always got the A’s, was a fast learner and could do about everything. It had always offended Joe just a little that Frank was always praised for being so perfect, but Joe was told to work harder.

Joe knew in his heart his dad loved him, but he couldn’t help but think sometimes that maybe his dad would have been happier with another Frank instead of him. Joe got some A’s but mostly B’s, he wasn’t a slow learner but had some trouble mastering new things at first, and there were some things that he just couldn’t do.

He couldn’t help how he felt. He got depressed sometimes and his overactive mind didn’t help anything. He loved his brother more than anything, he truly did. It wasn’t his dad’s fault Joe wasn’t like frank. It wasn’t Joes fault either. So, Joe was mixed up sometimes. He wished his dad would just talk to him and clear all these confusing thoughts and emotions away. He was especially confused when his dad had sent Frank by himself to solve the case. 

His dad had explained that the case needed to be handled low key and that only one person could go. So, Frank had gone, and Joe had stayed. He knew his dad wasn’t being intentionally mean saying that Joe had wanted to practice for the game didn’t he. Joe had said yes because he did want to practice but he also had wanted to go by himself to prove to his dad that he was as good as Frank.

Joe’s thoughts started to turn to Frank once again, but his body had other plans. He heard someone yelling at him to stay awake. He tried to tell them he couldn’t, but it was no use. He just let the darkness envelope him and with-it utter peace and silence.


	5. Out Of The Darkness

Buzzing, buzzing, like a fly that just hovered near Joe’s ear. Then the sound changed as Joe slowly came back to reality. It was a beeping sound, steady and quiet but a beeping sound. Joe hated that sound. He knew that sound too well. He and Frank had been on too many cases and he or Frank had unfortunately been hurt enough times that he knew that sound all too well. He hated that sound. it was the sound the hospital machine made that kept track of his heart rate.

Nobody else knew he hated that sound, but he did cause every time he heard it his overactive mind made him think that at any second the beeping sound would start beeping like crazy and then Joe was going to die. Joe shuddered; his whole body shuddered at the thought. He hated hospitals, it wasn’t the doctors or the patients. It was just his brain could take any sound, like the heart rate machines beeping or any little detail and twist it up into something it wasn’t. He hated when his mind did that. It really scared him sometimes.

Joe slowly became aware of voices as he drifted back to consciousness. They sounded calm yet worried. He immediately recognized Franks voice, then his moms and dads. They sounded like they were talking to him telling him to wake up. He tried to tell them he was but was still unable to open his mouth or eyes. Damn it. Joe hated being able to do nothing in the darkness that surrounded him.

He could hear the voices more clearly now though. As felling returned to his body, he could feel the soothing motion of his mom’s hand running through his hair. But with the felling of comfort that came with feeling so did pain. An excruciating, burning pain in his right thigh. It was so bad that that pain made Joe’s eye lids pop wide open and make him moan aloud in agony.


	6. Brotherly revelations

Joe's eyes were glassy and his breathes were scratchy as if he wasn't getting enough air. The pain in his leg was too excruciating for words. He couldn't think, he couldn't breathe. He started to panic, struggling with the hands that had latched onto his arms. He heard someone yelling for a doctor, the voice sounded familiar. Joe tried to place it, but the pain was messing up his mind. It was like it had totally paralyzed him; his vision was blurry so all he saw was a glob of color running to his side.

He tried to tell the blob that it was his leg but all that came out of his mouth was a scraggly breath. His vision was starting to go black. He felt something being slipped over his face then a warm, sleep inviting feeling just kind of washed over his body. Joe guessed that the blob had been a doctor and that he had just been given medication for the pain. Joe usually hated any kind of medication; he didn't even like to take aspirin. But boy was he glad that he had the pain medication this time.

He just stopped struggling and relaxed letting the pain meds do their thing and he slipped back into that warm, sweet oblivion. Joe woke up more slowly this time but fully woke up. He had a fuzzy feeling in his head but no burning pain anymore. He opened his blue eyes carefully and slowly let them adjust to the dim light in the hospital room. His eyes took their time getting the black spots to go away.

As his vision finished clearing, he turned his head and saw a figure asleep in a hard, plastic, hospital chair sleeping right beside his bed. Joe smiled as he heard the snoring that he knew very well to be Frank's. He was just about to go back to sleep and leave his brother in peace considering he must have been out a long time cause it was only about 4 p.m. when he ran out onto the football field to get Biff to safety.

Considering the lights were so down low and that no light shone through the blinds of the window he knew it must be late. Getting ready to nod off to sleep again he saw Frank awake and shift in his chair when he noticed Joe's sparkling eyes staring at him sleepily. "Hey little Bro. you okay?" Frank dragged his chair closer to the bed and leaned forward worriedly looking at Joe.

Joe worked hard against the pull of sleep and let a small smile grace his face as he whispered in a scratchy, dry voice "Hey big bro. yeah the pain is gone for now I'm just sleepy." Joe could see the relief that spread from Frank's eyes and climbed all over his face. He leaned back and told Joe that he had scared him and their parents badly. Joe felt like he could hardly keep his eyes open any longer. He whispered "Sorry Frank. Had… get… Biff… to… safety." " I know Joe, I know" Frank moved his hand and put it over his brothers, squeezing it let Joe know he was still there and would be there for the rest of the night.

"Biff… okay?" Joe was really starting to struggle to get the right words out. Frank smiled at Joe, whenever Joe was exhausted and tried to talk. It always came out sounding like he was drunk. The words were slightly slurred and sounded like Joe was trying hard to form them correctly. "Yeah Joe, Biff is going to be okay. He got out of surgery a couple of hours ago and will be fine."

Frank was about to continue telling Joe about Biff when Joe's eyes opened wide for a second then drooped as he said, "that good". Joe mumbled the words as the urge to sleep overpowered him and claimed him for the rest of the night. Frank smiled at his now peacefully sleeping brother and knew that Joe would have run on that football field to get any of the football players to safety. Heck, he would have risked his own life to save a random stranger from harm.

Yep, that was Joe his little brother and the biggest hero he knew besides his dad. Frank always admired Joe's sense of helping other people even when it was a danger to his own life. Frank was sure he would have done the same or at least he hoped so. Frank liked to calculate things before he did them, he had to have a plan before he could act. Of course, he could improvise like Joe always did or just act on instinct. Their dad had taught them to do both of those things. It was just Joe just rushed ahead onto that football field.

Didn't think of the sniper or that he could be shot. Nope, and that was what made Joe, Joe but that was what always scared the heck out of Frank. Whenever Joe did that, put the safety of others before himself Frank respected and did that himself sometimes but Joe putting himself second to others, scared Frank that someday Joe was going to save someone from harm but become injured himself. Like today. Biff had been shot first and then Joe had gone to rescue him and then got shot himself.

Joe hadn't even though of the possibility that he could get shot. All he had on his mind was getting to Biff. Frank's eyes betrayed his heart's sorrow and fear that he could have lost his little brother today. The tear trickles were turning into streams, but Frank didn't care not when he had almost lost Joe. Joe was usually the emotional one, but Frank couldn't help it. Joe was Frank's responsibility; it was up to Frank to keep Joe safe and he had failed miserably. When his parents had come, he couldn't even look their dad or mom in the eyes.

He was too ashamed and too afraid that they would blame him and would never forgive him for letting Joe get hurt. But they didn't which was a relief but didn't make Frank feel any less guilty about Joe getting hurt. Frank smeared his tears onto his sleeve as he tried to control his emotions as always. He had always somewhat prided himself that he was able to keep his emotions so well in check. He told himself that his heart wouldn't be broken and would be kept safer.

Joe of course was the opposite of Frank. Joe wore his heart on his sleeve and never seemed to regret it. He let anyone and everything enter his heart and never leave. Frank grimaced as he remembered how much Joe had cried when he was 10 and was told that the stray dog, he had found couldn't stay with them. Joe had run to his room and packed his bags saying that he was going to go live with the dog somewhere else where they could stay together no matter what.

Their parents had calmed Joe down though and thought that it was settled. The next morning found Joe's bed empty and his drawers cleaned out. Joe had left a note saying that he loved Mr. Scruffers (the name that Joe apparently gave the dog) too much to let him go. His parents searched the neighborhood all day and by night still no Joe. They frantically called the police and had patrol cars searching the town for Joe. Joe was found and picked up by a patrol car a day later soaking wet, shivering, and crying. Apparently during the pouring rain while crossing the street together Mr. Scruffers had lagged behind Joe and was hit by a car.

To console Joe his parents had a small funeral in the backyard for Mr. Scruffers. Even to this day Frank would sometimes find Joe sitting out in the backyard beneath the big tree where Mr. Scruffers was buried. He would just sit there leaning his head against the tree, legs crisscrossed and talking to Mr. Scruffers about his problems. Their family had an unspoken rule that whenever Joe was out by the tree in the backyard that he was to be left alone and not disturbed.

Frank had almost lost Joe that time too. After Mr. Scruffers had died Joe had retreated inside himself. He wasn't the perky, curious, bright eyed, little boy they knew and loved. He had turned sullen, and depressed. It wasn't until 2 months later that Joe slowly came out of it. Joe's best friend Biff and his family had moved just a block away. Biff had started coming over now where before Joe only saw Biff at school. Biff had noticed that Joe was depressed and had done his best to cheer him up. Frank was grateful to this day to Biff for doing what he hadn't been able to do, Biff had brought Joe back to him.

Frank dried his tears once again and let go of Joe's hand which he realized he had held onto ever since Joe had fallen asleep. Frank smiled and gently let go of his little brothers' hand. Joints cracking, he positioned himself to be more comfortable and settled down to keep a vigil on his brother. He had almost lost his brother too many times and each time it made Frank more and more afraid that the next time Frank or anybody else wouldn't be able to bring Joe back.

He knew he was going to have nightmares for a long time as the images 


	7. Catching Up And Catching On

Frank had just finished studying in the school library and was packing his books up when he heard it. At first, he thought it was just a backfire like Joe had thought but Frank's mind was more suspicious then Joe's. So Frank was in the hallway trying to determine where the sound came from when he heard the scream. Gun shot. It flashed across Frank's mind and sent him running to the locker room where he thought the sound had emanated from.

When he got there, he was immediately shoved back and tossed in every direction as the swarm of frightened students and football players who had been outside when the shot had been fired panicked trying to get to safety. Frank had stopped a football player by grabbing his arm and asked him where the shot had come from and if anyone was hurt. The shaking player said that it had come out of nowhere by the football field and that one of the players had been hit.

Frank remembered in horror that Joe had practice today. Frank stunned let go of the frightened players arm and rushed to the locker entrance into the football field. Please be okay, please be okay Frank desperately pleaded with Joe. Frank raced to the entrance and froze. He saw a figure being hoisted up onto another football players shoulders. Frank shuddered as he prayed that the still figure on the field wasn't his little brother.

Frank was immediately relieved when the figure turned around and he recognized Joe by his bleach blond hair. Frank slumped against the concrete wall in relief. Joe was okay. That was all that mattered. He leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes for a second to catch his breath and unscramble his worried brain before Joe got back to him. Frank jumped when he heard the second shot. Joe. Frank screamed his name as he saw Joe stumble and fall forward.

Frank heard people yelling at him to stay inside but Frank didn't even hear them. He saw Joe pinned under the other football player that he had picked up and put on his shoulders. All he could think of was that Joe had been shot. Joe had crashed to the ground and was now pinned. Joe was still out in the open and could still be killed. Joe. Joe. Joe.

His brain started to override his logical thinking. All he could think was Joe was hurt, it was his fault. Joe was hurt. Have to get to Joe, have to save him. Before Frank realized it, he had already run out the entrance and onto the football field. He came closer to Joe until finally he was right on top of him. He saw the blood covered back of the other football player and froze when he saw the name Hardy on the back of the blood-soaked uniform.

Frank felt sick as an awful thought crossed his mind. Maybe he had been mistaken and that Joe was in fact the player who had been lying alone on the football field. Frank shoved the vomit back down his throat at the thought and carefully hoisted the player off of the other player. He gasped taking in big gulps of air as he saw that the player on top wasn't Joe but Biff.

Frank checked for a pulse on Biff and found that he had one, but it was slowly getting weaker and fainter. Frank yelled for someone to call an ambulance and turned his attention back to Joe. Frank's head snapped up as he realized he had dozed off again. He rubbed his eyes tiredly and settled back down to sleep when he heard Joe mumbling.

Joe was saying something about being afraid of the dark. Frank leaned closer to hear better and heard Joe saying franks name. Joe was starting to whimper now begging Frank to save him from the monster. Frank's heart was ripped to shred as he heard his little brother begging for him to save him. Tears streamed down Frank's face once again as they occasionally did when his emotion got out of their cage.

Frank was heartbroken that Joe wanted him to save him from the monster and Frank had failed Joe. He had let Joe get shot. Frank swiped his tears with the palm of his hand and tried to get a grip of his damn emotions. He took Joe's hand into his and smiled still a little sad as Joe gripped his hand tight. Frank started to assure Joe that he was right there and was going to keep Joe safe always. Even though I have already failed you Frank thought miserably. Frank moved his other hand to Joe's head and started to rub his hair just the way he liked when he was younger.

Joe smiled in his sleep and drifted back off to dreamland, comfortable in the safety of his brother's presence. Frank continued his soothing motions and prayed for morning to come soon. Frank wasn't sure how much more emotions he was going to be able to handle. He was already starting to feel emotionally drained and he really didn't want Joe waking up the next morning and feeling sorry for him. He wouldn't be able to handle Joe's sympathy. Especially since Joe should be angry or mad or disappointed in Frank for not keeping him safe.

Frank thought back to the chilling image of the blood soaked and torn Jersey with the name Hardy on it. Frank bolted wide awake and gently let go of Joe's hand as ideas and thoughts started forming in his mind. Biff was wearing Joe's jersey. So, the shooter shot Biff thinking they were shooting Joe. Or they shot Biff to get Joe out in the open and then kill him.

Frank's mind was buzzing with activity as his brain came up with possibility after possibility. Finally, the stream of ideas stopped, and Frank dropped back into his chair out of breath. Frank was sure at the least that Biff wasn't the target. Or if he was it was just to get to Joe. Frank knew the shooter had been after Joe. It seemed way more probable than the shooter being after Biff and just Biff.

Frank now certain that Joe was the target started pondering why though. Sure, his dad had a lot of enemy's and it was logical to go after your enemy's kids. The weird part was shooting up a football field. Why not wait until Joe was alone then take him? It didn't make any sense. All Frank knew was that he needed to wake his dad up and tell him hi theories. They also needed to get policeman to keep a watch outside Joe's hospital room in case the shooter tried again.

Frank slid his phone out of his pocket and shivered at the blood on it. His phone had slipped out of his pocket as he had helped lift Joe up on the gurney and load him into the ambulance that had finally arrived at the school. his hands had been covered in blood from Biff and a little more blood from stemming Joe's leg wound. It had seemed to him that the bullet had gone clean through, but he was sure it still hurt like heck.

Frank shook his head and tried to focus again on the phone. He wiped the blood off the screen as best as he could then dialed his dads cell phone. It picked up on the second ring and frank immediately heard Fenton's worried and a little sleepy voice asking if Joe and Frank himself were okay. Frank relieved that his dad had woken up said they were okay then proceeded to tell Fenton his theories as to why Joe was shot.

After Frank finished, he heard Fenton get up and start rifling through papers. Fenton gasped as he read what the paper, he had picked up in his hand. Frank hearing his dad gasp started to worry and asked "Dad you okay? Dad ya still there? You okay? Dad? Dad?!".


	8. Answers and Doubts

"Dad you okay?" Frank was getting worried when his father wouldn't answer him. He was about to ask again when his dad's voice came back onto the line. "Yeah Frank I am okay." "Dang Dad. Don't do that to me. You had me worried." Frank almost never sounded like that. Especially when talking to his Dad. Frank always had his emotions in check but with Frank almost losing Joe, his emotions were running wild.

"Sorry Frank, I was just looking through some papers on my desk when I saw yesterday's paper." His dad sounded worried. Really worried. Frank never heard his Dad this worried before. Even though he would never admit it to Joe let alone his Dad, Frank was starting to get scared. "Dad, is everything okay?" Frank couldn't help the little bit of worry that seeped into his voice.

"No, Frank. Everything is not okay. Andy Satterfield just got released from jail." Fenton sounded tired and very worried. "Dad, I don't understand. Is he one of the criminals you put away?" Frank was getting even more scared at the possibility that one of Fenton's enemies was targeting their revenge at Joe.

"Yes, Frank he is, and he was one of the worst ones too. He was sent up for kidnapping, murder, robbery, and a slew of other offenses. He is also a former military sniper. The police were having a nearly impossible time catching him because he planned everything meticulously. He never let a detail go unnoticed. But every man and every plan have a flaw and It was just dumb luck that I was able to find that flaw."

"Wow Dad! so how did you do it? How did you catch this guy if he was so good?" Frank was curious to hear how his father caught a criminal that for once actually seemed smart. "I caught him when he made a detour in his plan to see his son play his first football game." Frank and Fenton gasped simultaneously as the same obvious answer came to their brains. Frank was quicker in voicing the answer though.

"He shot who he thought was Joe on the field because you caught him at his sons football game and Joe was practicing for a football game. And he could have easily shot Biff from a distance since he is a former military sniper. But when Joe ran out on the field to save Biff, he must have realized his mistake and tried to rectify it but missed and shot Joe in the leg instead." Frank had jumped out of his chair and started pacing anxiously in Joe's hospital room as he told his dad the reason that Joe had been shot on the football field.

"Thank heaven for the shot hitting Joe's leg then. Alright son I will call Officer Con Riley and ask for a police officer to be posted outside Joe's room. After the officer comes, I need you to come back and sleep a little okay?" Fenton was thankful Sutterfield had missed but needed Frank's help in hunting Satterfield down. "What? You want me to come home? No way dad not going to happen." Frank practically yelled at his dad for even thinking that Frank would leave Joe's side after he got shot.

"Frank, Joe will be fine. An officer will be posted outside his room at all times and I need your help to hunt this monster down and put him back where he belongs." Fenton understood Frank's concern, but he was getting a little irritated that his usually obedient child was outright disobeying him. Fenton didn't want to seem heartless to his son, but he really needed Frank's help.

"No, dad no way. I am not leaving my little brother to hunt this Satterfield with you." Frank winced as the anger he was feeling toward his dad seeped into his voice. "Frank, son be reasonable. The sooner Satterfield is put behind bars the safer Joe will be." Fenton was almost begging his stubborn son. Fenton knew he could always call Sam Riley to come help him, but Sam was on a different case in Texas.

"Dad how could you even think for a second that I would leave Joe when he is hurt. Let me tell you dad he would never leave me if I was hurt." Frank's voice was on the rise again as he frustratingly tried to make his dad realize that he wasn't going to leave Joe. "Frank" Fenton didn't get to finish as Frank's voice cut him off before he could continue. "What if he tries again Dad? He shot Biff in the back. Biff almost died Dad because Satterfield thought he was Joe."

"I am not going let that monster get within an inch of Joe, let alone try to kill him again." Frank was mad. Really mad and annoyed at the thought that all Fenton could think about was getting the guy. Did he even care that Joe was SHOT? Frank was seriously starting to have doubts about their dad.

"Dad do you even care that Joe got shot?". Frank's voice cracked a little as he asked the hardest question he ever had to ask. "Frank, do you really think I don't care that my son was shot? Of course, I do." Frank could literally hear the hurt that emanated from Fenton's voice at the question. "I'm sorry Frank. Yes, I'm worried sick that Joe got shot. Heck don't you think I feel guilty that I failed to protect Joe."

"Joe got hurt because Satterfield was trying to get revenge on me." Fenton's voice was starting to fill with the tears that slid down his face. "I failed him Frank. I failed him as a protector and if you really think that I don't care that Joe got hurt then I have failed as a father too." Fenton was choking on his words as the tears flowed freely now. The sobs came hard and fast through the phone and as Frank heard them his own eyes filled.

Frank felt so bad and guilty that he had actually made his Dad cry. His Dad never cried, ever. Frank sat down and dropped his head into his free hand. The sobs slowly ceased coming through the phone and Frank struggled to master his own emotions. "Dad, I am so sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I just… I am so worried about Joe, Dad. I almost lost him and when you suggested that I leave him, I just exploded. I am so, so sorry Dad. I never meant to make you cry or to think that you failed as a father."

Franks own voice betrayed his eyes as the tears started to trickle down his own cheeks. "I know Frank, I know. I am sorry too. It's just that I can't face Joe without telling him that the man that I let hurt him is behind bars. I can't stand the guilt that I feel right now Frank. That's why I asked for you to leave him and help me find that slug, Satterfield." Fenton's voice struggled to say the words without breaking back into tears.


	9. Just A Note

Frank's eyes were wet and his face salty with tears as he leaned over his baby brother. He gently slipped his hastily scribbled note under one of Joe's hands which lay upon the hospital bed. Frank had decided to go help his dad find Satterfield but that didn't make leaving his brother like this with only a note for an explanation any easier. Heck, it made it ten times harder.

Frank stood up and bit his bottom lip as the tears started again and almost spit as the taste of blood mixed with the salt in the tears that had seeped down into his mouth. He had bit his lip so hard he had broken the skin. He grimaced his face twisted up at the gross taste now in his mouth. He grunted and swallowed the awful mixture. He looked down at Joe as Joe murmured in his sleep.

Frank smiled at the gibberish that came from Joe's mouth as he slept in oblivion. Frank whispered a heartfelt goodbye to his sleeping, hurt brother. Frank walked softly to the hospital door and slipped out closing the door quietly behind him. Frank looked up and saw a very muscled police officer standing to the side of Joe's hospital room door.

Frank squinted in the bright hospital lights in the corridor and saw that the officers name tag read Colson. Colson was about 6 foot 3 and built like a wrestler with arm muscles that basically burst out beneath his seemingly too small officer's shirt. He had a short military haircut and his face was set like stone. Colson nodded a greeting to Frank who was still standing there taking in the giant of a police officer before him.

Frank nodded a greeting of his own and numbly walked away from the officer who reminded him of the Hulk, if the Hulk had decided to be a police officer and wasn't green. Frank pushed the down button on the elevator and stood there tapping his foot in uncharacteristic impatience as the elevator seemed to take its sweet time getting to Frank's floor.

Frank was still amazed and slightly relieved that Joe had gotten the biggest, muscle bound cop he had ever seen standing guard outside his door. the elevator dinged and its steel doors slid open before Frank. Frank stepped inside the cool, metal elevator and pushed the bottom floor button. As the doors started to close shut Frank got a bad nagging feeling in the pit of his stomach.

His gut was saying something was wrong but Frank just shrugged it off as feeling guilty that he had left Joe... Still. Frank lunged to the side and got a brief glimpse out of the elevator doors and into Joe's hospital room's hall before the doors completely closed. The giant officer was still there outside Joe's door looking big and menacing.

Frank shook his head as the elevator lurched slightly and started to descend to the bottom floor of the hospital. The elevator dinged again as its doors opened with a swoosh on the main floor of the hospital. Frank stepped off and headed out the automatic hospital doors to the parking lot. He still had the nagging feeling but he was confident that with officer Hulk standing guard that Andy Satterfield wouldn't have the guts to try to harm or try to kill Joe again.

Joe tried to roll over to go back to sleep when a sharp pain jabbed him in the leg. Joe pushed his eyes open and let loose a small yelp of pain. His eyes were met with a darkness that filled the room. He guessed it must still be pretty early. He didn't know why his leg hurt but he wanted it to stop very badly. The memories of the past day rushed back into Joe's mind and he sighed.

It had been quite a long day not including the fuzzy memories of him talking with Frank. As he moved his hand to try and rub the stabbing pain away, he heard a crinkle of paper. Joe felt beneath his hand and gripped a small paper note that had been put underneath it. Joe turned on the little lamp set on the nightstand conveniently right by his bed. He flipped its switch and took a second for his eyes to adjust to the light before eagerly seeing that the note was written by Frank in his little, neat letter.

Joe smiled as he mentally compared his handwriting to Franks. Joe's always looked like he was on a carousel when he wrote it.

_Hey Joe,_

_I didn't want to leave you like this, but Dad really needs my help to catch the person that shot you and Biff. Me and dad will explain everything later. For now, just know that the shooter shot Biff thinking he was you. We are quite sure the shooters name is Andy Satterfield and he is a criminal that Dad put away. Andy is hell bent on revenge and seems to be going after you to exact it. don't worry though Dad had an officer posted outside your door. So, you will be safe. I am so sorry I couldn't stay but the sooner me and Dad put this monster away the sooner you will be completely safe._

_Love Frank_

_P.S Mom will come tomorrow to visit you. The Docs' say that the bullet went through and through and that the hole should heal nicely. You'll just have to keep off of it for a while. Sorry sport looks like no football games or practice for a while._

Joe leaned back into his pillows with a sigh. Joe was slightly saddened that even Frank thought that football was so important to Joe that he would be disappointed that he wouldn't be able to play. Right now Joe couldn't care less if he never played football again. His leg hurt so bad now he knew wasn't going to be able to go back to sleep. He was searching along his bed trying to locate the call button when he noticed that his room's door was slightly open. Joe thought maybe Frank had forgotten to close it all the way and smiled as he triumphantly found the call button.

Relieved that his excruciating pain was going to be removed Joe didn't see or hear the shadowy figure as it crept across the room towards Joe's hospital bed, a small needle in the figures hand with its metal tip gleaming wickedly in the small light that emanated from the nightstands lamp. Joe was just raising his pointer finger to press the button when he heard a sound I his room. Joe's head jerked up and to the left where the sound had emanated from.

As soon as Joe's head had swiveled to the left, he felt a sharp jab of pain in his neck then Joe saw the ceiling as his eyes rolled back into his head then just blackness. The figure shut off all the computers alarms just in case if they rang and alerted the nurses that something was wrong with Joe. The figure detached the heart monitor leads from Joe's chest and the pulse monitor from Joe's hand.

The figure scooped Joe up easily into his arms as if Joe had been a weak little baby. The figure with its unconscious package gripped securely in its hands made its way to the door. As the figure got to the room's door as he opened it and peeked out first to make sure the coast was clear. It was and the figure flashed a smile of triumph before he started to stride down the empty corridor.

The strong figure spotted an empty wheelchair and gently placed Joe in it being careful of Joe's bandaged thigh. Even so Joe groaned in pain and the figure shushed Joe harshly. The figure finished settling Joe in the wheelchair and spotted a blanket off to the side on an empty gurney in the hallway. The figure snatched it greedily and tucked it around Joe's bare shoulders as the hospital gown had slipped halfway down Joe's chest.

That accomplished the figure wheeled Joe quickly to the elevator and pushed the down button for the elevator at least 3 times all the while impatiently looking back over his shoulder. Confident that he wasn't seen he wheeled Joe in a little more slowly as the elevator door opened for them. the figure turned Joe around to face the elevator doors again and the figure pushed the main level button for the hospital.

As the doors closed on the 2 figures in the elevator the light reflected off of something metal pinned to the figure's shirt. It was a name tag… Colson… That was the name written on the name plate as the steel elevator doors finished swishing shut on Joe and his abductor.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BTW i am very proud of this chapters title. hehheeeee its funny no?

Joe felt weird as his ears picked out sounds, then nothing as he struggled back to reality. Cold, very cold, and hard. Joe felt as if he was in the freaking Antarctica. His skin was like it had turned to ice and when he opened his eyes all he saw was darkness. Cold, deep blackness that sent shivers down Joe's spine. A sound like a footstep echoed throughout the room where Joe was, and a light was flicked on harshly blinding Joe for at least half a minute.

Joe was still blind with the pain from the harsh light as he heard metal creaking and the unmistakable sound of metal clanging shut with a resounding sound of fear. Joe turned his head away and waited still half dizzy and disoriented for the burning sensation and the black spots in his vision to go away. As his eyes gradually adjusted to the bright light, he saw that he was in a room. A room that resembled a prison cell down to the last inch of cement.

The light Joe now noticed wasn't half as bright as he thought it was. It only seemed brighter because he was lying directly underneath it and was looking straight up. The cell or prison cell, which was something that Joe secretly feared, seemed to be approximately 6 feet in every direction including up. At least that's what Joe estimated while he was lying down. Joe tested his strength and muscles as he tried to unsteadily get up and shortly explore his new place of residence.

He failed quite miserably he thought as when he stood up, he found himself back down again in an instant. He had forgotten that he had been shot, in the leg. Joe mentally berated himself as he sat contented for now on the floor and waited in pain for his leg to cease aching and feeling like it was on fire.

"hmmmh" Joe said with knocking teeth as he did a whole involuntary body shudder as the air seemed to get colder and the wretched tiny space tighter, the longer he was in that that awfully cramped space. He started to vigorously rub his hands up and down his arms and alternate rubbing his chest as the cold seemed to bite into his skin and freeze him from the inside out.

On the bright side Joe thought with a smirk and slightly chattering teeth, at least the cold had numbed the pain in his leg. Joe always tried to stay positive in dark situations such as the one he was in at that second. He usually did that by cracking a joke but since he was alone it wouldn't really work. Besides, he already knew all the punch lines if he had tried to tell the jokes to himself. Joe flopped back down as it took a minute for his legs to cooperate with his numb brain. He tried again and made it this time with a little grin of self-pride.

Nothing can keep Joe Hardy down he thought this time one of his dazzling smiles splitting his face and making him temporarily forget about his bad situation. Now upright and in a better mood than before Joe concentrated on forgetting the cold and started to run his hands over the wall before him before looking for cracks or anything at all before turning around and finding to his pleasure a toilet.

Joe crouched down and ran his hands over it looking for anything he could use to escape. It was a small metal sink right above and connected to a small, also metal, flush-able, toilet beneath the sink. All of which was connected to one of the cement walls with large metal screws. He hadn't seen it before because it was behind his head when he was lying on the floor before. Joe stood up and put his back to the cement wall behind him. He started to slowly walk forward counting his steps to see how wide and long it was. It was just as he thought, the cell was 6 feet in every direction but about 6 foot 1 in height.

Joe thought that it was a good thing that Frank had not gotten kidnapped, Frank's head would have been smashed against the ceiling the second that Frank had stood up. Fortunately for Joe who was an inch shorter than Frank when he had stood up, he didn't bang his already pounding head. So, Joe had about an inch for his hair to stick up about half its normal height in the prison cell.

Frank would have looked at Joe's spiky, blonde, locks sticking halfway up and being pushed back down by the ceiling and would have laughed at the comical effect it had on Joe. Frank, Joe focused on what Frank would be doing right now if he were in Joe's place. Unknown to Frank, Joe studied him and every one of Frank's techniques. Frank didn't know how much Joe admired him and his cool, calm, logic which had gotten them out of a lot of tight scrapes during cases and not.

Joe thought that Frank was a superhero growing up. Frank was always the one even as kids to come up with amazing plans that actually worked. When Frank had gotten older Joe's respect for his older brother just grew and grew. It still grew even to this day. Joe just didn't show it that much anymore. At least not in front of Frank, Joe didn't want to be the little puppy dog eyed brother who followed his older brother in his and their dad's footsteps just because his big brother had done it.

No, as Joe had grown older, he had learned to be his own person and found out that he could do almost all of the same amazing things his big bro could do. Joe still respected Frank just as much as Joe respected Batman. Frank was still after all a superhero in Joe's eyes, it was just now Joe was a superhero too. They were superhero brothers. Yeah, Joe liked that idea. Joe almost laughed aloud at the image of Frank in a cheesy costume with a cape and in tights.

Joe stated to shake violently as the cold started to squeeze him in its icy grip of hypothermia. Joe looked wildly around the room to find the source of the cold as he felt himself going numb again. Joe's eyes caught a glimpse of metal in the floor on the other side of the room. Dang, he must be really cold if he had missed that Joe thought as he slowly and now painfully dragged his body over the short distance.

Except the 6 feet felt like a thousand to Joe's freezing body. He made it and instantly felt like he had stepped outside and into the freaking Antarctica. The vent was blasting 25-degree cold air into his prison cell and all he was wearing was his hospital gown. Dang, Joe thought to him self as he looked around for something to stuff over the vent, he was lucky to have remained conscious let alone able to move in air like that.

Joe didn't know how long he had been in there before he had woken up. All Joe knew was that the cold had already started to mess with his mind. Like the light which Joe just now noticed. It was implanted in the ceiling with a metal grate over it. There was no way for Joe to unscrew it and even if he did what possible use was it to him. He wasn't a super genius after all.

Joe would have smacked himself if he had been able to raise his aching frozen arm that high. The creaking metals. Joe was so cold now he could only see about a foot in front of him. At least there is only six feet of room in here Joe thought quite ironically. He never thought that he would be thankful for a tiny space which he was crammed into.

Joe make his way painstakingly around the room, looking for the source of the creaking metal. Joe had been wrong about it being like a prison cell. Prison cells had 3 walls and a door. this cell had 4 walls and around a hidden corner, a door. Joe wondered what else he had gotten wrong about his cell. Oh well he couldn't think about it now. Joe tried to start to find a way to open the door when his legs crippled and gave into the freezing cold of hypothermia.

Joe crumbled against the big, heavy metal door and sank to the floor in defeat. He was through Joe thought in misery. He was going to die in the stupid cell alone, in the cold, and never be able to see Frank, Biff, or his parents ever again. Joe in one last fit of energy before the hypothermia sucked the rest of it away, started to bang his frozen fists as hard as he could against the even colder metal door.

"Help! Help! Someone, anyone help me please." Joe screamed it at the top of his burning lungs before he let his head drop and rest on his chest as he gave into his fears and cried tears making it halfway down his face before freezing, for his big brother to come and save him. Joe cried and continued to weakly bang his fists against the door in some small hope that someone would come for him.


	11. A Mother's Worry

It was Friday morning now. Frank had left Joe at the hospital around 2:30 that morning. Frank, Fenton, and Laura all tried to sleep for a couple hours but they all were too restless and worried to settle down. Fenton and Laura had called the school and gotten Frank out of school for the day. The school offered their hopes of Joe making a full recovery and they would make sure that Joe got his homework at home so he could keep up in his classes until he was able to come back. Frank and Fenton were in Fenton's study and were pouring over anything they could find about Satterfield.

Fenton was going over Satterfield's old arrest record and Frank was sifting through Satterfield's trial hoping to find something that would point them in the direction of finding Satterfield. Frank was working frantically to find any scrap of information that could prove useful, but his heart wasn't in it. No, Frank's heart was back with his baby brother keeping Joe company until Frank caught Satterfield and then Frank could be with Joe completely.

Some files slipped carelessly out of Frank's hands and fell to the carpeted floor with a soft thud. The noise startled Fenton out of deep concentration and made him look up in annoyance at his oldest son. The look immediately softened as Fenton saw the silent tears slipping out from beneath his son's shut eyes. Fenton got up softly from his big leather chair behind his desk and moved towards Frank, who was sitting on the desk cross-legged at the other end.

Fenton didn't speak a word nor did he make a sound. When he reached Frank, Fenton just enfolded his crying son into his arms and silently cried too as he felt Frank put his own arms around Fenton and just cling onto him. They both didn't have to tell each other why they were crying for they both knew. They were crying because they had both failed to protect Joe, Joe had gotten hurt, and they couldn't find a dang single useful piece of information to catch Satterfield with.

As Fenton stood there holding his son and Frank sat there clinging onto Fenton for dear life the resemblance between them was identical. To an outsider looking in it would have seemed the Fenton was hugging a younger version of himself. Fenton's and Frank's deep sorrow and guilt had seemed to mold them into one. They had become one in guilt, the feeling of failure and their shared worry and love for Joe.

Laura had gone as soon visiting hours had started to go keep Joe company. She had stopped on the way to get Joe's favorite doughnuts for breakfast. As Laura drove her eyes would drift over to the delicious smelling bag and a pretty smile would unfold across her pretty pale skin. All of the Hardy's had gotten a little paler and Laura had dark bags underneath her lovely, blue eyes, betraying the constant worrying that sometimes seemed to consume her as it would any good, loving mother whose son was just shot.

Not to mention that her husband and son had holed up in Fenton's office the second it had turned 6:30 that morning. Both of them had refused her offer to make food for them saying that they weren't hungry. She had put her foot down at that. She was not going to worry about one of them fainting from hunger, while she was with Joe. No, she made them scrambled eggs, buttered toast, and coffee for all of them. The delectable smell of the food she had prepared had gotten them out of the study and they had sat down to their simple breakfast in silence. All of them deep in thought and worry and none of them in the mood for conversation.

Each of them noticed the empty chair, the missing plate, and the tousled, sleepy eyed, energetic ball that should have been there but wasn't. Laura hugged her son and kissed her husband then headed out to the hospital, promising them both that she would say hi to Joe for them. Laura smiled the bag of deep-fried goodies was one of Joe's favorites and it would be a perfect mood up lifter for him. Plus, it tasted tons better than any of the hospital food and she knew how much that Joe hated hospital food.

She had called and talked to Joe's doctor who okayed the doughnuts. The doctor had smiled on his end of the phone as he heard Mrs. Hardy trying to convince him to let Joe have the delectable food. He had chuckled and agreed readily. After all the boy had been shot in the leg not the stomach so food was fine. He told Mrs. Hardy to only give him a little bit to make sure he could handle it. If Joe could stomach it then it was fine but if, he couldn't then he said that the hospital Jell-O was actually quite good.

He was then informed that Joe actually loved Jell-O and that she would do as he asked. They had both hung up after saying goodbye and both stood for a minute smiling. One happy in the joy that the food would incur in Joe when he saw and ate it. The other smiling at the loving thoughtfulness of a Mother for her son. Laura parked the car and walked quickly through the automatic sliding glass doors into the hospitals main lobby.

She got signed in and was told Joe's room number. She pushed the elevator button and stood there just as impatient as Frank had stood there earlier that morning with a bad feeling in his stomach. The doors slid open in a silent, cold swoosh and Laura stepped inside. As the doors closed all hopes of Joe being better would crash to the floor and shatter the minute the elevator doors opened again.


	12. White Wall's in Pain's Halls

It felt that all Joe ever seemed to be doing was blacking out and waking up again. He was really getting sick of it. Every time he woke up, he seemed to be in a worse situation then when he had blacked out. He was extremely sick of it. So, when he found himself waking up again it made him want to scream. As Joe gained consciousness he tried to moan and heard himself moaning as if from a great distance.

He wasn't deathly cold anymore, but he couldn't move, couldn't feel anything which felt good but was really bad and when he opened his eyes dizzily, he didn't like what he saw. Or what he slowly started to feel. Trying to move his arms led him to find out that he was restrained. He looked down painfully as his head throbbed and made his eyes see double.

What he saw made him gasp and start to writhe his body thrashing his legs and arching his back trying to get free of the nightmarish thing which now was wound covering the front and going round the back of his torso. He was in a disgustingly bright white jacket. It was a straight jacket. The kind which rendered Joe's arms immobile, crisscrossed tight across his chest and had a strap running from the front and painfully to the back going under and in between Joe's legs.

Uncomfortable wouldn't even begin to describe the kind of pain Joe was feeling as his body started to react the warmer environment, he was now trapped in. He was starting to feel everything his body had been put through and he had been put through a lot. Even though Joe couldn't see his hands he could feel the pain emanating from them and when his vision finally cleared, he could see small bright red stains through the straight jacket's sleeves on either side of his body where his hands were encased within the jacket.

He must have scraped the skin on his hands and bruised his knuckles when he was in the prison cell, banging away on the freezing metal door for help. Joe just lay there on the floor and stared up at the ceiling. It was that same disgusting bright white as the jacket. Joe was in too much pain to move and with the on fire burning sensation now emanating from his leg he was sure he wasn't going to walk anyway.

The cold of the prison cell had worked to numb his bullet wound only for so long. Joe tiredly strained his already burned out muscles as he lifted his body into a sitting position using purely stomach muscle. His brow covered in sweat from the exertion glistened brightly in the glossy brightness which seemed to glow from the walls. Joe was too exhausted to even try to smile but he inwardly grinned a smile of victory and gave a small thanks to Biff who had trained Joe for football.

Thanks to Biff Joe now had a 4 pack of abs and was able to do what he just did. Biff… Dang it, Joe was missing Biff something fierce right then. If Joe had even tried to think of Frank, his mom, or his dad he just knew he was really going to lose it. The sensation of falling backwards woke Joe from his thoughts as his stomach muscles collapsed from the strain and Joe found himself on his back once again.

As Joe's head hit the floor, he thought that he was going to hear the sickening crack of his skull against concrete. Instead all he heard was a soft thump, then the feeling almost of a pillow beneath his head. Actually, Joe thought as he started to roll his body over and gasped in pain as his bullet wound hit the soft floor. The entire floor was covered in stuff that felt like a pillow.

Joe immediately started to whip his head back and forth looking at the walls on either side of him in fear. Joe's face paled almost impossibly more so then he already was and realized what type of room he was in. He was trapped in an insane asylum room or a room that someone had fitted to be exactly like one. Joe slowly wiggled and scrunched his muscles as he wiggled his way slowly and painfully to one of the padded walls.

Wheezing for air as the warm room seemed to make breathing all that harder as Joe hoisted his torso up one more time and twisted his body so he was facing the entire room. Joe let his head drop and rest on the padded wall behind him and closed his eyes for a second. He was utterly exhausted. Joe couldn't think of a time that he had been that tired, or in that much torment.

His leg hurt like Joe didn't even know what anymore, his hands felt as if they had been scraped to the bone, his head was pounding like drummers at a rock concert an his entire body just ached down to the last inch of skin. Not to mention that the strap between his legs was very tight and rubbing him the extremely wrong way.

The gleam of the white padded walls seemed to pierce Joe's eyelids and invade the darkness that was a welcome break from the ghastly bleached white walls. Joe summoned his dwindled strength and haltingly revealed his vibrant blue eyes to the new room of torment that he was now trapped in. His eyes roved the room searching for a speck of hope or a way out.

There was no escape that his distressed eyes saw, not a door, a vent, nor anything else to which he might use for escape. Joe closed his eyes abandoning himself to the mercy of whomever had gotten him. Wait, Joe knew who had gotten him. Joe's eyes rippled beneath the skin of his closed eyelids as his eyes twitched back and forth as he tried to locate what Frank had written on the note to him in the hospital.

 _Didn't want to leave you like this… dad needs my help…shot Biff thinking it was you… shooters name is… Andy._ Andy? That didn't make any sense to Joe as he sifted through the broken sentences and mixed up words in his mind. Who the heck was Andy and why did he want to hurt Joe? Joe was puzzled and let out a loud snort of frustration as he couldn't recall anymore of Frank's note.

Joe just sat there confused and concerned as to what he had done to this Andy person to make him want to kill him. If Joe had only looked up and all the way to the left, then he would have saw the small partially hidden camera in a corner of the ceiling. A small camera with a small blinking red flashing light. At the other end of that camera through wires and then through the air on a WIFI signal sat the answer to Joe's questions.

For there sat behind a small wooden desk in a small, darkened room with a bed in a corner and a tv at the other end of the bed leaned forward and staring intently at a laptop in front of him was Andy Satterfield. Andy smiled twisting his face into an ugly, evil grin as he heard through the laptop's audio the sound of Joe's snort.

Oh yes, Andy had Joe right where he wanted him.


	13. Ring, Ring Devastation calls

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyone else love the chapter titles? yes? no? okay sorry. ENJOY!!

Frank and Fenton had ceased hugging and after wiping their tearful faces upon their separate sleeves resumed their hunt for information to use on Satterfield. They had been working at it for about hour and a half and were growing tired when Fenton's cell phone rang making both detectives jump with surprise at the shrill sound which penetrated the otherwise silent house.

Fenton looked up at Frank and both saw the sheepish smiles that the other wore. Fenton grinning in amusement checked the caller id on his cell phone and his features immediately lost their laughter and concern swept over as he saw that it was Laura calling. Frank noticed the grin drop off Fenton and change to worried look on his dad's face and hopped off the desk upon which he had been sitting and made his way over to his father as Fenton flipped open his cell phone and put it on speaker so Frank could hear.

"Laura is Joe okay?" when his wife didn't answer worry lines creased Fenton's forehead as he waited for his wife to answer him. "Honey are you and Joe okay?" all Fenton got in response was the sound of Laura starting to cry softly. Frank heard the concern factor in his dad's voice go up about 10 points and that distressed Frank. Actually, it reduced Frank to biting his fingernails as he anxiously waited for his mom to answer his dad, it was a bad old habit that reappeared whenever Frank was secretly very afraid and seemingly just worried.

"Mom, are you okay? Mom please answer me" Frank was getting scared as his distraught mom still didn't answer his dad and now him and Fenton just sat there with a sad dazed expression on his face as he listened to the heaving sobs coming from his wife, he hadn't heard her cry in years. "He's gone! Fenton he's gone. My baby is gone." The sound of his wife's voice broke through the reverie that had en-wrapped Fenton Hardy and brought him back to reality.

"You don't mean Joe's…" Fenton couldn't finish the horrible question as he prayed that his youngest son wasn't dead. Frank just stood there motionless while on the inside his emotions were on a roller-coaster. His emotions screamed at him, denial to yell at his mother that Joe wasn't dead, anger to punch the nearest thing he could find, love to cling to his father, sadness to cry until he couldn't, and depression to realize that the one thing that had kept him afloat all these years was gone.

It was too much for Frank who usually kept his emotions bottled up tight and let Joe be the emotional one. So, Frank just stood there completely succumbed in shock, his mouth open and tears forming in his eyes as his father's unfinished and unanswered question lingered in the air so heavily Frank could almost see the words written before his eyes. They both could hear Laura stop crying as Fenton's question registered in her mind and full-blown mama worry exploded inside of her and made her snap back to reality and get her husband and son to finding her baby boy.

"Fenton Joe isn't dead he was taken. He was kidnapped by the police officer outside his door. Fenton how could this have happened? How could you have let my baby been kidnapped?" Laura was fast becoming hysterical as the reality and gravity of the situation finally gripped and consumed her mind. "What do you mean he has been kidnapped? I had Con Riley send one of his most trusted officers over." Fenton had raised himself out of his seat and was fast approaching hysteria himself.

Fenton paced the room as his detective side started to take over and, in his brain, he ran over all the possible ways that this could have happened. "Laura, Laura, honey did you see the officer before? Was he a tall, skinny guy?" "No, Fenton I didn't see anybody. I don't know. All I know is that I came to the hospital to see Joe and when I got to his floor and didn't see anybody outside I guess I thought that the officer went to get coffee or something."

"So, I just went in to see Joe and he was gone." Laura's voice broke as she told Frank and Fenton that Joe was gone when she went into his room. Her voice was breaking because her heart was breaking, crumbling because her baby boy was missing, wounded, and all she wanted was to hold him close to her heart and never let go. When Frank had been born Laura didn't think that she ever could be happier. Then a year later Joe was born, and Laura's heart overflowed with so much happiness.

She loved Frank more than life itself, but Joe was her sunshine, her darling, spiky, blonde headed ray of sunshine. Joe was the one who cheered her up with a small joke or just a smile whenever she was down. Joe was the best thing besides Fenton and Frank that had ever happened to her. Joe was impulsive sometimes yes, but his heart was always in the right place. Joe would give and do anything for anyone if they were in need.

That was just who Joe was and Laura loved him for it always. She was always proud of Frank when he would come home from school with straight A's, but she was so proud of Joe when he would come home with B's. it didn't matter to her that Joe didn't get straight A's she knew that Joe struggled more then Frank did with school. all that mattered to her was that Joe gave it his all and she knew that Joe did every time. That was good enough for her.

Laura's smile at her recollections of Joe slowly dissipated from her face because Joe had been kidnapped. Laura fumbled with her purse and managed to shakily take a tissue out of her purse. She dried her tears and blew her nose. _Please Joe_ Laura prayed mentally _come back to me. Please baby come home safe and soon._


	14. Double Click To Cliff Hanger

Fenton's question's to Laura about what the cop looked like bounced around in Frank's ears, but he didn't make the connection as his brain threatened to shut down at the sheer horror that was starting to overwhelm him. Joe was kidnapped. It didn't seem real to Frank and he prayed to Heaven that he had heard wrong. The look of guilt and shock on his father's face told Frank otherwise.

Frank's mind kick started when through Fenton's phone came the whispered prayers of his mother for Joe to come back to them safe. He had to find Joe. Frank closed his mouth up tight and started to pace around the now seemingly small room as he racked his frazzled brain trying to think of anything that he could do.

Frank stopped right in front of his dad and smacked himself so hard in the forehead he knew that there was going to be mark. Fenton jumped at the sudden noise and stared at Frank puzzled at his sudden outburst. "Frank what have you got?" Fenton's voice asked eagerly as he recognized what Joe called Frank's I got an idea face.

"How could I have been so stupid!" Frank's hand was reaching up to smack himself again, but his wrist was caught by his father's hand and Frank looked down in surprise as he had completely forgotten that his dad was in the room with him. His dad looked into Frank's eyes with compassion and tugged on his arm motioning to him to sit down beside him. Frank looking embarrassed quickly sat down but motioned to the phone which still had Laura on the line.

Fenton told Laura to come home and that he and frank were going to start working to find Joe right now. Laura sniffed and said alright. Fenton tole his wife that he loved her then ended the phone call. He wiped the lingering tears from his eyes then turned to Frank in anticipation. "Well Frank what did you think of just now?" "Dad when I was with Joe and I left him the note when I left the guard was outside the door."

"Okay Frank so how does this help us find Joe? I still can't believe the cop that Con sent was bad. Damn it" Fenton was furious that Con had sent a cop who was bad to protect his son. He and Con went way back, and he was like an uncle to both Frank and Joe. "Neither can I dad. That is why I don't think that the cop I saw was the real cop." "Wait, you think the real cop was switched out with Satterfield or one of his goons?"

Fenton was almost relieved at the thought. Not that a cop could be hurt or potentially dead but that his faith and trust in Con wasn't proved wrong. "Con said that the cop he sent was a real tall and skinny guy. Was that the officer outside of Joe's hospital room?" Fenton was getting excited now at the possibility that they might have something to work with to find Joe.

"No, the guy outside was big like wrestler big and tall." Frank got quiet as he realized why he had the bad feeling in the pit the pit of his stomach when he was leaving the Joe in the hospital earlier. It was because the man that was supposed to guard his brother was there to take him away from Frank. "that's good Frank. Let me call Con and get a police sketch artist to come over and draw the man you saw."

"Okay Dad. Umm Dad?" Fenton looked up from his phone at the hesitation that he heard gripping his oldest son's voice. "Yeah Frank what is it son?" Fenton was slightly concerned at the look which had come over Frank's face. Frank was scared. "um" Frank's voice was laced with tears and his eyes started to shine with that soft glow that accompanies tears. "umm" Frank struggled to not let his voice crack. "do-d-do y-you think J-Joe is okay?"

Frank could barely get the stuttering words out before he put his hand to his mouth and squeezed his eyes shut as his emotions took control and some tears slid down wetting his face once again in guilt and fear. He made a choking sound as everything he had been holding back just unleashed itself. Frank didn't think about appearing weak in front of his father, he didn't care that he was allowing his dad to see the deep, hidden, emotionally unsure part of himself. All of that was trumped when Joe had gotten hurt and then kidnapped.

He couldn't lose Joe he couldn't. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he didn't get Joe back. Fenton was so shocked at the show of raw emotion in his son's voice that he was quiet for a minute. "Frank? Frank look at me buddy." Frank opened his mouth, took a shuddering breath, and looked at his father. Frank was a little surprised that his dad had called him buddy.

He usually only reserved buddy for Joe. That was kind of like Joe's thing when they were younger. Frank had never particularly like being called buddy when he was younger and had told his dad that. So, the buddy had fallen upon Joe's shoulders and he had loved it. "Frank? You still with me?" Fenton was a little worried at the faraway look in Frank's eyes. Frank snapped back to attention and looked at his dad with sorrow filed eyes.

"I don't know Frank. I want to say so bad that he is okay, but I don't know. The fact is that Joe is still hurt from the gun shot and we don't know where he is. Joey will be okay though; he has to be okay. Okay?" "Okay dad" Frank sniffed hard and took another shuddering breath getting his emotions back into their cage. Fenton called Con and told him about the missing police officer, the kidnapped Joe, and Con said that he would send men out to search for the officer. Con said that they would send out an all-points bulletin for Joe right away.

Con started to apologize profusely but Fenton stopped him telling his old friend that it was not his fault and that none of them thought that this was possible. Fenton asked him to send a sketch artist over and Con said that someone would be over in an hour. Con asked for information on the fake cop and Frank told Con everything he knew. Con could hear the guilt in Frank's voice and he promised both Hardy's that they would get this information out on the air and that they were going to get his guy and bring Joe back home, safe.

Fenton said goodbye and hung up. He searched on his laptop for a picture of Satterfield and found it. He then asked Frank if this was the fake cop. Frank leaned over his father's shoulder and stared at the picture with hope. Once he saw Satterfield's face his own features fell with disappointment. "It's not him Dad." Frank was crestfallen that they still didn't know who the guy was.

Fenton was just about to ask Frank if he was sure when his laptop dinged with e new message alert. Fenton almost dismissed it, but the caption of the email made his blood run cold with nightmarish terror as the captions stared evilly back up at him. Frank who was still leaning over his father's shoulder saw the new message alert and read the captions too. Frank was furious, scared, and horrified at the words.

POOR, LITTLE, JOEY, WANNA SEE HIM?

Fenton just stared at the screen blankly so Frank moved his hand to the keyboard and double clicked the laptop's keypad, opening the email.


	15. What To Write

Frank's eyes bulged as he saw the picture of Joe huddled in a corner of a room that filled the entire space of Fenton's laptop screen. "Joe!" Frank whispered almost not daring to breath in case the image that he saw of his brother alive turned into a pic of him dead. The image vanished from the screen and words took its place.

_Did you like what you saw?_

A message box appeared beneath the taunting words where they were supposed to type their answer in response to the sick monster's question. Frank moved his hand hastily to type when he found his wrist gripped tight in Fenton's grasp. "Dad he has Joe!" Frank said trying to pull away from his father.

"What were you going to type Frank? Let my brother go or you'll pay?" Fenton asked while he gazed at Frank with eyes that knew that Frank didn't know what he was doing.

"No, dad I wasn't going to type that." Frank's tone was almost scoffing at his father's words. He didn't mean to be disrespectful but the relief he had felt at seeing that Joe was alive and semi-okay had fled along with the image of Joe. Now all he wanted to do was… He wasn't sure, but anything was better than nothing. Fenton released Frank's hand and started to type a response into the waiting message box.

"Frank remember I was a police Detective for years before retiring and becoming a private cop. I know what to type, how to word it and how not to respond to provocations."

"But Dad he has your SON! How can you remain calm and objective when he is dangling Joe right in front of our faces?" Frank was rarely mad but when he was it meant that he was secretly very afraid.

"Damn it Frank. You don't think it isn't killing me that I am playing with Joe's life right now? I have to be calm not cause I want to cause I don't. I wasn't to run into the street and scream for Joe to come home or take this laptop and its sick message and throw it against the wall." Fenton went back and forth between rage, worry, and calmness. It comforted Frank a bit though to see that his dad was just as messed up inside as he was that Joe had gotten kidnapped.

Fenton took a deep breath and continued "But none of that would do anybody any good especially not Joe. I have to remain unruffled for Joe's sake. If I can remain unprovoked then maybe, we can make him slip up and get something that we can use to find Joe. Okay?" Fenton looked up from his typing and begged Frank with his eyes to calm down and help him think.

"Yeah, sorry dad. I just… I saw Joe and I guess… I guess I kind of flipped out." Frank sat down in a chair beside his dad and with an elbow on the table ran his fingers through his hair as he slowly calmed down.

"It's okay Frank. Your just worried about your brother. So am I."

"Dad, what if it isn't Satterfield who has Joe? What if some other maniac has Joe and is hurting him?" swallowing hard at the thought that someone might be hurting Joe sickened Frank to his stomach. Frank's anxiety about Joe hadn't gone down any but his brain was soothed enough that it was staring to think normally again.

Fenton finished typing and turned the laptop around so both of them could see Fenton's response to whoever was writing to them.

"I know Frank I was thinking the exact same thing. That is why I wrote it like this. Since whoever sent this didn't say that they were Satterfield we shouldn't give up the possible advantage we have if it is Satterfield." Frank scanned the message that his father had quickly and craftily written and nodded his head in agreement.

Fenton turned the screen back towards him and hit send.


	16. Concerning Correspondence

_Did you like what you saw?_

Fenton's response read: _Yes, I did. Thank you for letting me see that Joe, my son is okay. What can I do for you to get him back to me safe and sound?_

Fenton and Frank's eyes kept a vigilant watch on the laptop's screen waiting in anticipation of the capture's response. Chills traveled throughout their bodies as the little computer dinged telling them a new message had been sent to them. Fenton clicked and opened the message with bated breath.

_Well-well. You do love your youngest son. I was starting to think I had made a mistake going after the jock instead of the brains. Frank is the brains, isn't he? Tell me who does a father love more, a son who gets straight A's and is intelligent or a dumb, dead, jock who isn't worth a lick. Oh, did I say dead? I meant BRAIN dead. Guess it was a good thing I went after Joe. After all kidnapping somebody is easy when they are as stupid and useless as garbage._

Franks breath hitched as his eyes stuck on the word _dead_. Emotions boiled over and raged inside of him until he forcefully made himself read the rest of the message and he saw that the man didn't mean that Joe was actually dead. He was just insulting Joe's intelligence and worth trying to get a rise out of them. It worked because Frank knew that he had so much rage inside of him that if he was alone, he would have punched a hole clean through the wall.

Frank closed his eyes and said a silent prayer for strength to control himself and a thank you that Joe was still alive. Brought out of his thoughts by typing sounds, Frank revealed his brown eyes to the LED light which softly shimmered from the screen in front of Fenton. His father was typing his response as Frank looked on eagerly waiting to see what Fenton wrote in reply.

As he waited Frank's mind turned to why Satterfield if it was Satterfield thought that Fenton didn't love Joe as much as he hid him. How did the person taunting them know that Frank got straight A's? did he guess? Fenton was asking himself almost the exact same question as his fingers flew over the keyboard beneath his fingers.

Fenton mentally shrugged and wrote it off as some attempt to provoke him to make a mistake. Yes, the insults against Joe hit home for Fenton but he had learned a long time ago not to let your emotions cloud your mind. That didn't mean he wasn't any less worried for Joe than say Frank or Laura he just tried harder not to let it affect what he had to do in order to get Joe back home.

Fenton's response: _What made you think I don't love Joe? I love my boys equally and they know that. What is it exactly that you want?_

The reply came back in a fleeting heartbeat. The Hardy's faces screwed up in confusion and uneasiness at the haunting 2-word reply.

_Ha-Ha_

The ding sounded again echoing with the resounding bang of the front door being closed. "Fenton? Frank? Are you boys home?" Laura's tired and distressed voice floated throughout the house but fell upon deaf ears as Fenton and Frank stared in shock at the words splayed across the screen in front of them.

_You wonder what makes me think that you don't love Joe? Well I got the information from a very trusted source. Joe. Lets just say that he rambles when delirious, quite a lot actually. He seems to think that you don't think of him as valuable a detective as Frank. So sad really That you let even let Frank take on a case all by himself! Even though you KNEW that Joe wanted to help solve it. Oh, but you thought that Joe liked football so much better that he wouldn't mind giving up a case. IDIOT!_

_Your son doesn't even like football that much. It's terrible that I know more about your Son than you do. Actually, I think I sympathize with Joe and I agree with him. You are the worst father EVER. You let your own son think that you love Frank more than him. It's true obviously but still that's got to cut... to…the… heart. Wouldn't you agree? Oh, almost forgot. Satterfield tells me to say Hi for him._

_Oh, P.S I think I might keep Joe. The kid is starting to grow on me. after all we both have horrible human beings as fathers and don't even get me started on the disgusting way that Frank lets you walk all over Joe. I think Joe is better off with me. At least I treat Joe with at least a smidgen of decency. Don't worry, I'll make sure Joe forgets all about his appalling family. Joe is mine now._


	17. Protector and Protectee

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i know Joe will seem OOC but just keep in mind that Joe has been shot, dehydrated, frozen, bruised and bloodied his hands, he is doubting Fenton's love for him his own self worth, he is just really sick and tired of it all and he is very delirious.

Hearing no response Laura headed out of the kitchen and trudged tiredly up the stairs. She strode over to the closed study door and opened it the hinges making a slight squeak. Her dulled blue eyes took in Fenton and Frank sitting at Fenton's desk with faces aghast at whatever was displayed on a laptop which sat askew in front of both of them.

" _What are you and Frank doing Fenton? I called up but you didn't answer_."

Her words shook Fenton from his reverie, and he eased his aching body up and out of the chair he had been sitting in since early that morning. He took quick strides until he reached her and looped his strong arms around her waist, drawing her into his embrace. Laura surprised, touched, and lightly startled brought her own arms around Fenton's chest.

" _What's wrong honey? Tell me what happened that has you so upset."_ The words came out slightly muffled as Laura had buried her beautiful face deep into Fenton's shirt.

" _The-there's something I need t-to tell you and umm show you."_ The voice that uttered those words was not the strong and powerful voice Fenton usually had, no, his voice was nervous and he stuttered as he dreaded to show the one he loved so much what the kidnapper had sent to them.

Laura lifted her head and glanced worriedly up at Fenton's face then over at Frank who still sat at the desk now wearing a disgusted look on his face as he read and reread every single word the twisted goon had sent them. Laura's eyes flew back to Fenton's eyes with her own showing confusion and an underlying tone of tainted fear.

" _Fenton what is it? What's on your laptop that has Frank looking so disgusting? What's on the laptop Fenton?"_ Fenton took his wife's fearful rapid-fire questions in stride, untangling his arms from her and leading her to the desk. Laura sat down trembling ever so noticeably eyes still upon the handsome face of her husband.

Frank slid the laptop over the smooth surface of the desk towards his parents. He pushed his chair back in quiet angry frustration and stalked out of the room fuming with fury and indignity at what the man had said that Joe had said about Fenton. Joe would never say that about Fenton Frank was quite sure of that.

If only poor Frank knew what Joe said, how he actually felt then he wouldn't be so sure. Joe was scared, freaked out of his mind as the white of the walls seemed to close in upon him. Joe screamed in terror as he was about to be crushed and ground into the sickening white floor, but his scream had stopped the walls. He was safe as long as he made noises, noises helped keep his delirium grounded. So, Joe rambled. He told jokes but soon ran out of them, he talked about everything he could think of until all that remained was what he kept hidden.

What he kept so far down that the words had never been formed in his mouth let alone said out loud. That is what the man on the outside of the room heard. Unknown to Joe there was a door leading out of the room and on the other side was a room in which the man sat with snacks and a laptop monitoring him. He heard all about the crap way that Joe was being treated by his father. How Frank never seemed to stick up for Joe but always agreed with their dad.

Joe was getting really worked up, his voice started to go higher as the emotions he had never shown poured out of his heart parallel to a waterfall of insecurities and depression. He couldn't stand so he sat yelling what he felt at the walls surrounding him. Tears surged down his twisted-up face in pain and heartache as Joe poured out his heart trying, begging for someone to help him understand.

Someone to aid him as he ailed in agony. Why did his father love Frank more than him? Wasn't he a good son too? Did Fenton even care about him? Or was he not good enough. The worry, the insecurities of being the second son always there. It was secret though unknown even to Joe until recently. It had hidden itself deep down placing it's roots in the insecurities and slight depression that Joe had been born with and it festered and grew until right then it exploded.

It broke loose from its encasement and made itself known. Joe stared blurrily at one of the walls as he heard a soft screeching sound then a whoosh like a door had been opened. Joe inched back hugging the wall with his back as he heard footsteps but the tears had not dried yet so he couldn't see. Closer, footstep by footstep they came closer until Joe could hear the person breathing.

He tried to kick out at the person, but his legs didn't work from exhaustion and dehydration. The blob squatted and took something out of its pocket. A dark loose shape now came into Joe's focusing vision for a split second before soft cloth something like silk was wrapped around his eyes and he was blind again.

A voice that was hoarse but had the gentlest tone Joe had ever heard before in a males voice spoke to him. _"Sorry about the blindfold Joey but I don't want you to see me until you are good and ready. I'm not disfigured or anything it just that it would be better if you didn't see me. Sorry about being so harsh with you earlier. I was just doing as my father bid me and I was scared if I wasn't tough with you that he would come right away and hurt you. I couldn't let that happen. Satterfield was the one who put you in the cell block though,i tried to make him leave and i got you out as soon as he left. I didn't hurt you did I? because I heard everything you said just now, and I understand everything you're going through, and I won't hurt you."_

" _Promise?"_ Joe whispered so softly that the man had to stop closer to catch the last letters.

" _What was that buddy?"_ he said eager to find out what Joe had asked.

Joe cleared his throat and tried to sound strong _"Promise you wont hurt me?"_ Joe was trying to be brave, trying to tell himself that he couldn't trust this man, but he was so alone, so insecure of the love that his family had for him that he couldn't. He couldn't be alone anymore, he couldn't handle the the mental and physical pain anymore. He just needed someone to understand and comfort him and even though the detective part of him screamed to remain strong he was done being strong. He was done fighting. All he wanted was a friend. Someone who would love and comfort him unconditionally.

And as the words _"I promise Joey. I would rather die than let any harm come to you."_ Floated into Joe's ears they seemed to sooth his troubled heart. Joe's breath hitched as a seemingly great weight was lifted off of his soul and as he felt the mans hand upon his jacketed shoulder he leaned into the touch and gasped for breath as racking sobs enveloped his body.

Silent tears fell off of the man's face as he felt what the young man was going through tear into his heart. Yes, he had sent the message's to Joe's family, but they were a bunch of ungrateful snobbish jerks for treating Joe the way that Joe described in his ranting. The man knew what it felt like to be treated like the not good enough son.

He had only called Joe those names to see just how clueless his family was, and he was more than satisfied at their response. They didn't have a clue what Joe was feeling. They didn't know that everyday was a torment for him, waking up, losing focus all throughout the day and then having worries and numerous insecurities running throughout his mind. The man knew all too well what that felt like and he wasn't going to let Joe live his young life like that.

No, he was going to abandon Satterfield's stupid torturing Fenton by taking his son plan and just take Joe and run. He would treat Joe the way that no one had ever treated him or Joe before. He was going to show Joe what unconditional love meant. He was going to take care of and help Joe become the man that he knew he could be. He was going to make sure that Joe never EVER had to see or go back to the unloving, horrific, way that he was treated by his dad.

Never he fiercely told himself as Joe leaned in closer and the man hugged Joe gently resembling slightly a giant bear as his muscles softly rippled beneath his skin, he held Joe and let his Protectee sob his heart out all over himself and the man. The man didn't mind, he was sobbing too. There they sat Joe with a newfound friend and protector while the man now had an actual goal in his life. Take care of Joe. That was now the most and only important thing in his life.

" _What-what's your name?"_ through tears Joe quietly and uncharacteristically timid asked.

" _Well Joey its Forest. I changed my last name though because my old man is a…. very evil and intimidating person."_ Forest sounded almost scared to Joe as he talked about his father.

" _What's his name? your father's I mean?"_

" _Its Sa…. Never mind little brother. Just rest now and when you wake up this awful straight jacket will be off of you and I will bring you something to eat. Okay?"_ Forest's voice was gentle, and he talked as one talk to a child, but it strangely didn't bother Joe. In fact, Joe found that tone to be the most loving and reassuring tone he had ever heard in his life. Already the feelings of being alone, unloved, and his insecurities were starting to fade.

He felt more at home and at peace with Forest than he could ever remember in his life. He was so sure of being loved and being kept safe that as Forest moved to leave Joe said a bit stronger and with a touch of anxiety. _"Forest don't go. Please?"_ Joe was too scared of the dark to be left alone and even though forest had kidnapped him Joe just felt... safe with him. Joe couldn't explain it or the way he felt.

Forest looked at Joe with tears springing anew in his eyes. _"Sure Joey. I'll stay until you drift off to sleep."_ Forest felt more love in those couple of words than he had ever felt in all of the 29 years of his life. He thought of his father, but he pushed the thoughts out of his head. No, his father wasn't going to force him do things he didn't want to do anymore. He wasn't going to tell Forest to do horrible things and make him like it.

A sleepily _"Goodnight Forest"_ shook Forest from his thoughts and made him smile at Joe with pure untainted love for Joe in his eyes. He would never let his father get his hands-on Joe. Forest knew what his father would do to Joe if they stayed, in the morning they would have to leave. They would go somewhere where they could be safe from the monsters of fathers they had.

Fenton held Laura as she sobbed quietly having just seen the image of Joe and read Forests messages. The doorbell rang and Fenton hear Frank going down the stairs to answer the door. Garbled voices floated upstairs as Fenton lost the battle to keep is eyes open. Unknown to him he was also losing Joe to a man who needed Joe just as much as the Hardy's needed Joe back, more even. For the man who sent the image of Joe and the messages didn't hate Joe, on the contrary he sent them at his father's bidding because even though he hadent seen his father since high school, he remembered all too well what his father was like before he went to jail.

The man who sent those images was just as scared and hurt on the inside as Joe was on the outside.

TBC


	18. A Lead

Fenton awoke startled by a noise at the entrance to his study. Frank leaned against the doorway arms folded across his chest and had a small half-smile on his face.

 _"_ How long were we asleep _?"_ Fenton asked rubbing his eyes tiredly as Laura stirred her features snuggling deeper into Fenton's neck and shoulder upon which her head rested. Fenton rubbed his eyes with his left hand as his right arm was still encircling Laura's small shoulders as hers were looped around his chest.

 _"_ A couple of hours. Biff's parents called about an hour ago. They said that Biff woke up and was going to be fine. They also said that Biff wanted to see Joe after he heard that Joe hauled him off the field and got hurt himself. They asked the doctor's, but they said to call us." Frank's voice resonated dully with misery. He hated that he was the one who had to hear Biff's happy voice come onto the phone and say _"Joe!"_ with so much enthusiasm, it trampled Frank's already crushed heart into dust.

Frank told Biff that Joe had been taken and he heard Biff's audible gasp over the wire. He also heard the muffled sounds of Biff trying not to breakdown. Frank knew that Biff was Joe's best friend but to hear the stifled emotion coming out of the phone it made it very real to Frank. It showed Frank how close Joe and Biff were and for a split-second Frank was almost jealous. Biff's voice trying so desperately not to crack asked Frank if they had any leads and if there was anything he could do to help.

Frank told him the best thing that he could do for Joe was to get better for when they got him back. Biff choked out an okay and hung up. Frank had stood there phone in his hand just thinking. Going back through all the memories he had of Biff and Joe playing together. they were close, remarkably close. Frank sensed that twinge of jealousy come back, and he let it sit in his stomach taking his time wanting to feel what jealousy was like.

He had never been jealous of Joe in his entire life because if Joe had a problem Frank always knew. It felt weird and not particularly good at all to think that Joe had another person who was as close to Joe as he was. He liked Biff he just didn't know how to handle that level of emotion and concern coming from anyone else that wasn't from him or his family for Joe.

"Frank what's wrong _?"_ Frank looked up at his father at the whispered words and shook his head.

"Nothing Dad, just thinking." Frank dropped his arms and walked slowly into the room. He sat on the edge of the desk and told his dad that the police sketch artist had come by a couple of hours ago and the sketch had turned out exceptionally good. Fenton smiled pleased that Frank's almost perfect recall had come in handy once again. Fenton's mind turned to Joe and he hoped that Joe was okay.

The Hardy's was startled at the ringing which came from Fenton's phone. Laura lifted her head tiredly and pushed herself upright and leaned back in her chair running the crook she had gotten from sleeping awkwardly.

"Who is it Fenton?"

"It's Con." Fenton slid the answer button on his phone, put it on speaker so they all could hear and slid his phone onto the smooth wooden surface of his desk. "Yeah Con."

"Fenton tell Frank that the image described to the police sketch artist was perfect."

Fenton stared at Frank quizzically and in return Frank whispered "The guy came a couple of hours ago. You were already asleep after we were finished." Fenton realized that the sound of the door closing right before he fell asleep was probably the police sketch artist arriving.

"Fenton you still there?"

"Yeah sorry Con, I was thinking." Con smiled sadly as he felt how hard this must be on Fenton not to mention the entire family.

"So, Con any news?"

"Uh yeah but first why the hell didn't you call me as soon as the kidnapper emailed you? You old fool!" Fenton's face froze as his friend's voice filtered through his phones speaker softly yelling at him.

"Sorry Con, but I needed to handle it on my own." Fenton glared at Frank in frustration at him for telling Con and Frank stared back at Fenton defiant in his strong gaze as he passionately believed that Con needed to know the information.

"Fenton you stop staring daggers at your boy and listen to me for a second." Fenton looked in wonder at the phone and asked, "How did you know Frank was in the room with me?"

"Some detective you are." His friend said softly and in a gentle teasing manner. "It doesn't take a genius to figure out that with Joe kidnapped the rest of the Hardy family is going to stick together like flies in honey. Besides, I heard Frank whispering earlier."

"Oh" Fenton looked sheepish and scrubbed his face tiredly as his brain was starting to act how he felt, shutting down.

"Anyway, it's a good thing your boy has got such a good head on his shoulders. The sketch Frank made me passed out to people around the hospital and we got a match. That along with some fancy computer triangulation doohickey we might have a possible location on our hands Fenton."

Fenton lurched out of his chair with such force that it knocked his chair over backwards. Frank slid off the edge of the desk and crowded eagerly closer to the phone at having a possible location for Joe. Laura just sat in her seat one hand covering her mouth in surprise and the other at her throat waiting eagerly to hear the rest of what Con had to say.

"You know where Joey is?"


	19. What Is Lost Was Lost Before

Con told them that one of the off-duty nurses came forward and told them that she had seen Joe being put into a van by a police officer. She didn't think about it at the time, but the police officer was putting Joe in what looked like to be an unmarked minivan. The nurse thankfully had a marvelous memory and she gave them the license plate number of the minivan. They found out that the van was stolen yesterday about an hour drive away from Bayport.

The van had built in GPS, so they tracked it to an old, abandoned psych hospital about two hours away from Bayport. They had also been able to backtrack the emails the kidnapper had sent and found that it leads back to the same address. SWAT was gearing up now and heading out. Con gave Fenton the address and told him that they would meet him there. Con hung up the phone and prayed that they weren't too late to find Joe.

Con opened the drawer of his desk, took out his gun and checked it making sure no bullets were in the cold steel chamber. Loading the clip into the gun he grimaced at the sharp metal click which confirmed that the gun was locked and loaded. The worst part of the job Con thought to himself as he strapped on his bulletproof vest was the killing.

He hated that rescuing Joe would probably end with the bloodshed of the kidnapper or God forbid Joe getting hurt in the process of getting the bad guy. But if killing a bad guy meant Joe coming home then Con would gladly do it. He loved those boys. He and Sam Radley, Fenton's partner always felt like super proud papas whenever the boys solved a case or won an award in school or just looking out for each other.

What mattered even more to both of them was that they had a connection with both the boys as if they were their uncles instead of close friends. Especially since Con wasn't married and did net have kids while Sam was married but sadly couldn't have Kids.

They both had to contend to playing uncle to Frank and Joe whom both loved so much, and they wouldn't have it any other way. Con and Sam knew that Fenton was forever grateful for all the events he missed while the boys were growing up that Sam or Con attended for him.

_Like when Frank was seven and he won first place in the science competition. Fenton had to be called away on an urgent case, so Sam attended and soothed Frank when he got nervous that his project wasn't good enough. Sam knelt on one knee and looked Frank in the eye telling him that his science project was amazing and that it didn't matter if he won or lost._

_All that mattered was that he had done his utmost best. So, it was Sam who stood by Frank beaming like the proudest papa in the world as Frank received the first-place award, not Fenton. Sam was a little closer to Frank as Con was to Joe. Con knew how much it mattered to the boys to have their father there. So, both him and Sam were thrilled when Fenton was so happy that Con or Sam if he wasn't helping Fenton, could attend the events._

That Fenton couldn't attend which unfortunately happened almost all the time. Since Fenton was a topnotch detective and everyone wanted only the best of the best, Fenton Hardy. Com sighed as he walked out of the police station and saw the SWAT officers loading into their van. Con was happy that he and Sam were always able to be there for the boys, but it also made them mad sometimes at Fenton that he always seemed to put the job in front of his boys.

Con couldn't stop the images of Joe's face as he crossed the finish line in first place of his first junior high track meet competition. _After accepting his trophy Joe looked to the roaring proud parents of the Bayport Junior High school. He had twisted his head around until he had found his family the sweat gleaming off of his face in witness of how hard he had run. A big smile gracing his sparkling eyes but when he didn't see his father his face fell for a second._

_Before putting on a fake mask of joy and holding up his trophy for his cheering mom, Frank, and Con to see. Con had seen the look on Joe's face though and he knew how devastated he was that Fenton wasn't there to see him win. Con waited for Joe to finish taking a shower and changing clothes outside of the locker room entrance. Frank had wanted to go with him, but he gently told Frank that he needed to speak with Joe first._

_Joe came out of the locker room wiping the back of his hand against his eyes brushing away any lingering tears. He stopped short when he saw Con standing there. Con just looked at Joe with sympathy written all over his face and opened his arms waiting. Joe looked at Con for a split second then ran into his arms crying his heart out drowning Con's shirt in tears of disappointment and doubt._

_Con just stood there arms tight around Joe feeling Joe's body's racking sobs and Con felt silent tears slip down his own face as he hushed Joe and told him that everything was going to be okay. What broke Con's heart though was the whispered sob filled cracking vice of Joe asking if Fenton didn't come cause he didn't love him or because he wasn't good enough for him. Con almost choked at the heart broken question that echoed through his ears._

_Con looked down and lifted Joe's tear ridden face up towards his own teary face. "No Joe" Con had said "Fenton didn't come because he had a stupid case to work on not because he doesn't love you. He does with all his heart. Don't you ever think that he doesn't or that you are not good enough. You will always be good enough Joe. You are smart… Yes, you are smart Joe you know it and I know". Con had stopped at the look of disbelief upon Joe's face and it broke Con that Joe didn't think that he was smart._

_It had taken Con 5 minutes to convince Joe that Fenton not coming was in no way his fault. Con tried Joe's and his own tears and they went out to the rest of the Hardy family to get ice-cream in celebration of Joe's victory. Con was glad to see that Frank had sensed that Joe was upset and all throughout eating ice-cream Frank had stayed close to Joe making sure that he stayed happy. Con always loved seeing the bond that Frank and Joe had. If the boys hadn't been a year apart Con would have sworn it was like they were twins._

_Con drove the family home and after coffee said goodbye. Frank shook his hand goodbye something that made Con shake his head and smile and Laura kissed him lightly on the cheek and thanked him for coming. Con saw the gratefulness in Laura's eyes and knew that she was thanking him for being there when Fenton couldn't. Joe hugged Con tight and whispered upward to Con's ear "Thanks uncle Con"._

_Those words meant everything to Con._

Con started the police cruiser up and followed the SWAT van out of the police station. I hope you haven't lost him already Fenton Con thought as he flipped the switch for the lights and siren.

"Hang on Joe I'm coming for you I promise" the whispered voice of Con said.

Meanwhile as Con and Fenton and Frank were separately on their way speeding towards Joe, Joe was being gently shaken awake. "Joe he's coming. You got to wake up now, Joe… Joe! Satterfield is almost here we need to go now." Forest's voice was hazy and faded I and out as Joe struggled back to consciousness. His progress was halted by a loud scream of pain right by his ear. The next thing Joe felt was a frightening tight grip on his shoulder and the whispered words "Hello Joey… ready for round two?"


	20. How Close Is Inseparable

The sirens of the police cruisers and the SWAT van blared through the evening traffic as they raced on their way to Joe. The flashing blue and red lights lighting up the darkening sky as it was getting late in the evening. Con recognized the Hardy's speeding car as his police cruiser came up behind them in the traffic. Con had driven the boys when they were little so many times in that car that he could spot it in an instant in a crowded parking lot. Frank looked back at the sirens behind them and saw Con. Con motioned for them to get behind him so that they could get through traffic better.

Frank understood and turned telling his dad to get behind Con. Fenton nodded and slowed down slightly then switched lanes, so he was now behind Con and the SWAT van. With the sirens going full blast and the pedal ground into the floor they made it to the address in one hour instead of two.

It was an old and rundown big two-story building which screamed creepy. Especially so in the slowly dwindling daylight. It had windows everywhere, but every window had bars and it gave Frank the chills at how much it looked like a jail. The roof was flat, and it seemed that all of the paint on the building was hanging on just by a thread as the wind kicked up and started to eerily howl around the building.

The SWAT officers unloaded from their van and Frank, Fenton, and Con were right behind them. SWAT stood there checking their weapons and communications before they formed a plan to go in from the blueprints they had gotten and took with them. Con had to pull back on Frank's arm when he started toward the building.

"Con, Joe is in there!"

"Frank, he could be, but he might not. You and I both know that SWAT has to go in first cause we don't know what is in there. Come on, I brought 2 extra vests. You and your dad need to be protected when we follow SWAT in there. Okay?"

"Yeah Con, okay."

It broke Con when Frank's voice said okay the desolation and anxiety in his voice was overwhelming Frank and Con felt like if they didn't get Joe back Frank would just pop. _Please be in there and okay Joe._ Con found himself uttering yet another silent prayer for not just Joe but also Frank. Everyone knew you couldn't get Joe without Frank, but only close friends and relatives knew that Frank and Joe wouldn't have it any other way.

Con remembered when Joe called him last week when Frank was away on the case. He missed Frank and It had shone clearly in his voice, but what was more evident was the hurt Joe felt that Frank hadn't fought for him to go with him. Thankfully, Joe had hung out with Biff every day while Frank was gone, and Joe had said that it was awesome. Con was glad that Biff was such a good friend to Joe.

Con turned at the all too familiar sound of a clip being slid into a gun. Con was surprised to see that it was Fenton standing holding his old police gun in his hand and clearing the barrel making sure no bullets were in it. Ever since Fenton had retired from the police force in New York Con had never seen him handle a gun ever. It worried Con that Fenton was choosing now to handle a gun again.

Fenton looked up and saw Con looking at him worried. Frank had walked over to the open trunk of Con's police cruiser and was strapping on quickly a bulletproof vest.

"Fenton you good?"

Fenton finished checking his gun and put the safety on before looking back up at Con.

"I'm not going to let Joe be hurt Con. He's already been shot, and I won't let anything else happen to him. I-I ca-nt. I've already failed to protect him once and I won't let it happen again."

Fenton put a hand on the trunk of his car to steady himself and his other hand flew to his face. He shaded his eyes from Con and everyone else, trying not to let the liquid sadness come out and make itself known. Con walked over to his friend and put a firm reassuring hand upon Fenton's shoulder.

"Fenton are you God?"

Fenton looked up puzzled at Con blinking at the bizarre question.

"N-No"

"If you're not God then how the heck could you have known that Joe was going to get shot, that he was going to be kidnapped. Huh? You did everything you were supposed to do. you cant control the future no matter how hard you try. Beating yourself up for something that you had no control over isn't going to help anyone. especially not Joe.

"Joe doesn't need a father right now who is feeling like he failed. Right now, he needs his strong, loving, and gentle father. The one who would do anything for him and knows that bad stuff will happen that is no one's fault except the person who did it. You didn't fail Fenton, there was absolutely no chance that you could have seen this coming or prevented this. Okay Fenton? You understand?"

Even though Fenton was much older than Con it sometimes felt like Con was the wiser of the two. Fenton scrubbed his face drying away the small tears and smiled weakly at Con.

"Thanks Con"

Con just smiled a little "your welcome" smile and walked back over to frank to make sure his vest was on tight enough. The SWAT team came up with a plan of entry and towards the broken in door entrance they tiptoed. More police officers followed them then came Con, Fenton and Frank.

Joe froze as the words lingered in his ears and he almost screamed but bit his tongue and held it in when the blindfold was roughly ripped off of him. Joe blinked rapidly in the once again bright light of the sickening white room. His eyes roamed the room and fell upon a still form lying about 10 feet away from him. A figure crouched in front of him and grabbed Joe's face in his hard grip, jerking Joe's face closer to his.

"How'd you like the ice room Joey? I made it special for you. Want to go in it again?"

Joe silently shook his head no in the man's growing painful grip.

"Ahh that's too bad. I thought i made it rather nice. I bet your wondering who I am aren't you?"

The man's eyes showed his burning hate for Joe with the fierce glare that was locked on Joe's face. Joe silently shook his head yes. If the man in front of him was going to kill him then so be it. Joe just hoped that Forest was okay.

"My name is Andy Satterfield. Your father put me in prison. Luckily, I escaped but you want to know what happened while I was rotting in a concrete cell? Huh? My boy was killed. My precious, baby boy gone, and I couldn't even go to his funeral. Do you know what it feels like to lose someone? Huh? Do yah?"

Andy's voice was rising with hysteria and heart wrenching grief and it scared Joe. Andy was pacing in circles his hands alternating between pulling his hair and rubbing his face vigorously. When Andy turned his back towards Joe again Joe saw the handgun tucked into the back of his jeans, the butt sticking out of pants.

Joe started to feel the adrenaline pump as every time Andy tuned his back on Joe it provided Joe with the opportunity to take the gun. Joe was just about ready when Andy stopped and crouched down in front of him staring at him so intensely, he didn't see Forest slowly and wobbly rise to his knees then stand. Andy grabbed Joe's face again in his killer grip bringing their faces together noses touching.

Joe flinched at the contact as his nose was still severely bruised from the door-face contact he had yester… actually Joe didn't know how many days ago that had happened. He hadn't had anything to count time with not to mention all the time he was passed out. Andy started to smile wide and Joe felt chills like never before.

"I think were going to get along fine Joey. Oh! You thought I was going to torture you. Well yes but that was just the first part. You see you are going to become my son, the son I lost. Your father me away from my son and now I'm taking his son away from him. Except I won't kill you. No, that would be too easy. I've already tortured you so now that's getting boring. Now what really would be fun is if you became my son. Stealing one man's son to become another. Say hi to your new name Joey Satterfield. Yeah, I like the sound of that don't you Forest?"

Andy spun around and grabbed the slowly approaching Forest in a headlock something which seemed impossible to do since Forest looked exactly like his name. Tall and buffed out to impossible muscle mass. Andy saw the look of surprise on Joe's face and laughed.

"That's everyone's reaction to this stupid boy. Forest, sit against the wall. NOW"

Joe just stared as Forest the biggest man he had ever seen just slumped to the ground and scooted against the wall as if he were a tiny, scared, child.

"Joe you've already met my stupid son Forest."

Forest looked at his father in surprise and Andy laughed in Forest's face before roughly slapping him making Joe cringe at the force of the slap.

"You think I didn't see you in here Forest being all weak and mushy with Joey here? Huh? I see everything you useless idiot. At least you'll be useful for keeping Joey here in line."

Andy shook his head in disgust at Forest and Joe's blood boiled at the insults and the way Andy treated his only surviving son. The way Andy treated his son made the way Fenton had been treating Joe seem like heaven.

A blaring noise like a fire alarm sounded throughout the building and echoed painfully loud in the room.

"Hell, they must have found us. The alarm's been tripped. Dammit" Andy lightly cursed before kicking Forest with his foot and ordering him to pick his favorite son up since Joe couldn't walk. Joe pointed with his eyes to the Andy's turned back and Forest looked and saw what Joe was trying to say. Joe was trying to get Forest to get the gun, but Forest lightly shook his head and whispered

"He would kill me before I got halfway there."

Joe was about to answer when Forest hauled Joe off of the floor and Joe involuntarily screamed as his body started to shake with the immense pain coming from his leg and now the rest of his body. Andy twisted around at Joe's scream and took the soft cloth that Joe had been wearing earlier and pulled it tight around his mouth. it was useless though as the pain had made Joe pass out.


	21. Mistakes And Frank's Heart Breaks

It was all so dark when they entered the building. The flashlights they held and swept their surroundings with intensified the horror movie like atmosphere. Wind had started to blow and since it was autumn and late in the evening the chill that had set in earlier was intensifying little by little. Frank hated horror movies they were always so stupid and had him wondering what kind of idiot goes into a supposed haunted house at night or doesn't realize when the monster is sneaking up behind them.

Frank mentally smiled a bit as he remembered that Joe loved old horror movies. Whenever they went to a movie theater Joe always picked the old, lame, horror movie. It seemed the cheesier the better and Joe loved it. It made Frank wonder how they could be so similar yet so different at the same time.

The Swat team split up to cover more ground efficiently and quickly. There were at least 10 floors and countless rooms to check. Not to mention how deep the basement went and how many floors and rooms it could contain.

Half of the SWAT members went to clear the upstairs, the other half went with the extra cops to start clearing the middle floors. Con, Fenton, and Frank headed to the basement. Everything is always so much worse in the basement and Frank was starting to regret letting himself be roped into watching an old horror movie marathon with Joe last week. Yeah, they had made a bunch of popcorn and sat comfortably on the couch in the downstairs den and they had both had a blast.

But now as they descended down the cobwebbed and dust covered cement steps the shadows jumped out at Frank. Actually, that was the best thing that Frank had done with Joe before he had to leave for the case. Then this whole mess had happened, and Frank was wishing that he had never left Joe alone and should have spent more time with Joe instead of taking the stupid case in Illinois.

The descending steps seemed to go on forever providing plenty time for Frank to revisit the days before he had left for Illinois. Frank's stomach flip-flopped as it dawned on him that something hadn't been right with Joe before he had left for the case. Frank started to mentally review what had happened.

_Their dad talking… asking Frank if he wanted to work the case alone… alone… by himself… Frank had been thrilled… a chance to prove that he was a good detective… glances at Joe's face…_

Oh Gosh, Frank replayed the image of Joe's face in his mind and he wanted to scream at himself. _Joe looks okay…but his eyes…_ Frank had always been able to tell what Joe was feeling by his eyes. _Joe's eyes held a mixture of emotions_ and as Frank replayed it over and over in his mind _…one emotion stood out so bright… he wanted to scream… Hurt… that was what Joe was feeling…it was hurt…_

 _Hurt that his dad hadn't picked him for the solo case… hurt that his brother didn't even try to argue for both of them to go…just plain, heartbreaking hurt…_ and it almost made Frank stop dead in his tracks. If they hadn't been so close to rescuing Joe, Frank would have thrown up right then and there.

"How could I have not seen that Joe?" Frank whispered as he sickeningly trudged down the stairs.

"Am I that bad of a brother I can't see when you're hurting? Little bro I am so sorry." Frank was starting to feel as if he couldn't breath and his heart pounded in chest. Pain started to overwhelm him and he missed the step slipping and falling face forward down the almost pitch dark cement steps.


	22. Caught Between Bullets And Rescuers

Fenton was walking down the cold and dirty concrete steps when he heard a loud thumping sound and seconds later felt something crash into him. Thankfully, the stairs had a wall on one side and a rail on the other. Fenton had his hand on the rail when Frank crashed into him. Fenton stumbled forward slightly but he grounded his feet against the impact and gripped the rail hard.

Frank slid to the ground behind him and Fenton turned around stunned and concerned to find that Frank was the thing that had crashed into him. Con heard the ruckus and dashed back up the steps finding Fenton helping Frank to his feet.

"What happened? You both alright?" Con searched the stairs behind us expecting that a bad guy had been the cause of the ruckus.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine Con. I just missed a step that's all. Its good thing Dad want too far ahead of me." Frank brushed himself off and put on his I'm totally fine face. Which was something that Joe did it all the time. It always annoyed Frank that Joe wouldn't be honest about being hurt cause then Frank had to annoy and pry where he was hurt out of him.

"You sure you're okay Frank? You don't look so good." Fenton was worry was already at its peak with Joe missing and now Frank was starting to act weird.

"Dad I said I'm fine. Just drop it okay. We need to find Joe before the kidnappers get away." They were all painfully aware of the siren still blaring through the building and that didn't bode well for Joe at all. Besides Frank wasn't going to tell his dad that he just had a panic attack while they were in the middle of rescuing Joe. If he told Fenton, then Fenton would make him wait top side and Frank would rather die then not be a part of rescuing Joe.

"All right let's move quickly and a little more carefully alright? We don't need a twisted ankle or worse." Con waited until they both nodded their heads in agreement before turning his back on them and heading back down the stairs. Frank climbed the steps to retrieve the flashlight which he had dropped when his panic attack had happened. It still worked and they all headed down the stairs hoping that Joe was okay.

All the SWAT teams and the extra police officers checked with Con on the radio when they cleared a level. Soon SWAT and the rest of the police officers cleared the whole building and Frank, Con, and Fenton had reached the basement. They stood in a long corridor with doors littering either side of the hall and it seemed to go on forever. Lights were on in the hallway and even though they flickered and swayed slightly and creepily it was enough so that they put could put their flashlights away.

Fenton and Con each took a side of the hallway and started to slowly open the creaky metal doors checking each one to make sure that they didn't miss Joe. Since Frank didn't carry a weapon, he stayed in the middle of the hall ready to assist Con or Fenton if they needed any help. They were about halfway down the hall when Fenton tried to open a door but found it locked. Every door before that door had been unlocked. Hope leaping in his heart Fenton called Frank and Con over to him.

He showed them the locked door which looked newer and thicker than the rest of the doors and Frank at once took out his lock picking tools and set to work. The door swung open and they were greeted by freezing air. As Con and Fenton went through the door something on the door caught Frank's attention. It was frozen blood. Frank nudged his dad and pointed at the blood. Fenton was grim and he nodded before following Con inside the room.

Frank stood by the door and wrapped his arms around his chest as the temperature seemed to drop the longer the door stayed open. It seemed to take forever, and Frank wondered how big the room was, and why all the doors down here were metal. Fenton and Con came bursting back out both shivering with cold and Fenton motioned for Frank to shut the door.

Frank did so disappointed that they hadn't found Joe yet but relieved somewhat that even if that had been Joe's blood he wasn't in there anymore. By the grim expressions on their faces Frank surmised that whatever they had found in there hadn't been pleasant. He was going to ask but was cut short when all their police radios which they had been issued came to life. A voice squawked out that 2 men, one of which was carrying something over his shoulder, had tried to exit out of a back entrance to the building. SWAT had told them to put their hand up and then SWAT was fired upon by the two men.

SWAT didn't return fire because they thought that the bundle on one of the men's shoulders had moved and it could have been their hostage. The men had dodged back into the building and by the looks of it the entrance was heading to the basement. SWAT asked for further instructions. Con told them to enter carefully and not to fire upon the men because they could miss and hit Joe.

Con told SWAT that they were in the basement in a long corridor. SWAT found their location on the blueprints. SWAT said that they needed to go to the end of the hallway and at the end were stairs leading to the exit which the men had darted back into. SWAT was going to go in at the top of the stairs and Con was going to be at the bottom of the stairs.

Hopefully, they could catch the men and Joe in between SWAT and Con and they could get Joe back safely. SWAT said Roger and the radio went silent again.

Looked at Frank and Fenton then very calmly said "Alright Frank, Fenton lets go get our boy back."


	23. Stairwell Of Uncertainty And Botched Plans

Bullets ricocheted burying themselves in the middle of the stair well as Andy opened fire as soon as he heard footsteps coming up from the basement towards him, Forest, and his newly attained son. Andy couldn't continue going down, so he started going up. He stopped when he saw a flash of light in the darkened stair well, a couple of floors above him. Andy cursed silently as he processed this latest block in his plan.

He could put a gun to Joey but if he went down the stairs, the men behind him could shoot him. If he went up it was the same problem. Either way that he chose would mean that unfriendly guns would be at his back and ready to shoot. Andy cursed again as there were no doors leading out of the stairs for a couple of flights up and down of him.

He was trapped. Andy motioned for Forest to duck down. Andy and Forest were now squatting in the dark as Andy tried to think. Forest had dropped their flashlight down the middle of the stairwell by accident when Andy had opened fire. Andy's brain went a mile a minute concocting and discarding plans as soon as he thought of them.

Andy smiled in the dark as an idea formed and yanked Forest harshly on the arm. Forcing Forest to come closer so he could explain his plan to his idiotic son. Frank had ducked as soon as the shots rang out echoing throughout the stairwell. He looked up just in time to see a flashlight falling through the air and seconds later the dull thud as it hit bottom.

Frank looked at his Father and Con and whispered wanting to know what where they going to do. Con came back down a couple of steps and stood by Fenton and Frank. He was about to respond when a gun fired again. They all ducked their heads and Con radioed SWAT to see who fired the shots. SWAT radioed that it wasn't them and wanted instructions on what to do as the armed suspect was coming up the flights of steps toward them.

Con told them not to fire and to let the gunman get up the stairs but if they got a chance, to take out the shooter. SWAT radioed the okay and Con slowly started to climb the stairs again as shots rang out one after the other. Minutes later Con didn't know how many because he hadn't looked at his watch. SWAT radioed Con saying that they had a visual on the armed suspect and requested permission to take the shot.

Con asked if the suspect was alone. SWAT confirmed that the other male was not with the gunman and that the hostage wasn't with the gunman either. Con told SWAT to take the shot but to use nonlethal force. Frank paused right behind his Father and Con as he heard another gunshot ring out then a loud cry of pain. They remained stationary until SWAT radioed saying that they had the gunman in custody.

Suddenly on the floors that remained between SWAT and Con a door's creaking hinges echoed as it was opened and the resulting bang of it swinging shut. Con, Fenton and Frank sprinted taking the steps two at a time until they reached SWAT who had moved down the stairs until they had found the landing with a door. Frank looked at the man sitting on the steps, blood trickling from the wound where the bullet had deeply grazed him, in utter disgust and contempt.

What surprised Frank is the tone of the man's voice and the frantic pleading that seeped from it as he said "Please, you have to get Joe away from him. He's going to hurt him. He took Joe through that door there. You have to get Joey away from him."

Con looked in surprise at the man and wondered why there was a sound of real concern in his voice for Joe.

"Does your partner have another gun or weapon on him?" Con asked trying to get an idea of what was waiting for them on the other side of the rusty door.

"I didn't see another gun, but my father could have a knife hidden on him."

"Your father?" Con was going to find out just what the heck was going on, but it had to wait for later because all that mattered right now was getting Joe back safe. Frank just stood there shocked and angry at the thought to be fake concern that the kidnapper had in voice. Fenton stood to the side of the door weapon drawn and waiting for Con to give the order to open it and let him go after the very sick and evil individual who taken his son away from him.

Con ordered SWAT to open the door and to be careful since Joe was still in the hands of one of his kidnappers.


	24. Rescue Of The Body But What Of The Mind?

The room behind the door had giant glass windows with bars on them and the moon which was just starting to come up bathed the room in its light. Frank thought as he entered the room behind his father and Con, that it must have been a type of common room for all the mentally unstable patients of long ago. There were no other doors except the door which they had come in and no other way to escape.

SWAT positioned themselves around the entrance to the room all guns trained upon the two figures backing up before them. Andy did have a second weapon a knife which gleamed evilly in the moonlight and lighted up its sharp edges for the whole room to see. Andy had that knife to Joe's throat and held Joe up against his chest. Joe was still unconscious and as Frank saw the knife at his throat, he was glad that Joe didn't have to be awake in what surely would end in Andy's blood splattered over Joe.

Andy was dragging Joe back and away from all the people that wanted to take Joe away from Andy. Andy stopped and cursed as he felt the glass on his back, and he knew once again that he was trapped. Frank felt like crushing Andy's throat in his bare hands as the moonlight lit up all of Joe's injuries. If Joe hadn't twitched a muscle in sleep every now and then Frank would have sworn that he was dead. Joe's skin was paler than Frank had ever seen, and blood was starting to leak through the dirty bandage on Joe's leg and drip down on the white tile floor.

Frank put a hand on his mouth when he caught a glimpse of Joe's hands. They were bloody, cracked, and swollen from God knew what and as Andy jolted to a stop Joe's head snapped up and Frank saw his nose. Frank cringed as he remembered that he was the one responsible for hurting Joe like that. Fenton was staring and seeing everything that Frank was seeing. Fenton started to see red and he lunged forward before being restrained by Con. Fenton glared at Con with the most hate filled and guilt ridden eyes that Con had ever seen, let alone ever dreamt of them being Fenton's eyes.

Con turned toward Frank and told him to make sure that Fenton didn't do anything stupid. Frank nodded and put a hand on his dad's arm making sure that Fenton stayed with him.

"Stay back! I'm warning you one step closer and Joey here dies."

Andy yelled at Con as Con had stepped towards Andy.

"Okay, okay just relax. Don't do anything dumb okay? Look I'm backing up. See?" Con calmy said this while slowly backing up with his hands up in front of him to show that he wasn't going to go for his weapon.

"Get all the SWAT out of here now!" Andy inched the knife closer to Joe's throat and Fenton had to hold back Frank from running and tackling Andy to the ground.

"Okay" Con never taking his eyes from Joe and Andy told SWAT to retreat back into the hallway.

"Where's Forest?" Andy watched Con closely as SWAT slowly backed out of the room.

"He is in the hallway with a police officer. Do you want to see him?"

"You mean he isn't dead?"

"No Andy, Forest isn't dead."

"That's too bad." Con could have ripped Andy's throat out as Andy's look of disappointment was plain upon his face that his son wasn't dead.

"He was useful to me but now he is just extra baggage. Now Joey here on the other hand. Well, he will never be extra baggage to me will you Joey?"

Con didn't know what had happened or why Andy was talking like that to Joe, but it made Con sick.

"What do you want Andy so that we can get Joe back safely?"

Andy was about to respond when Joe started to moan and slowly regain consciousness.

"Ah, Joey boy awakes! Why don't we ask him that shall we?" Andy grinned in wicked pleasure and Joe finally opened his eyes. Joe's eyes grew wide as he saw Con standing 50 feet away from him his hands upraised. Con smiled reassuringly and Joe met his smile with a dull and confused look on his face. Con's smile faded and he prayed that Joe was alright because the Joe he knew wouldn't have looked at him like that, no matter how hurt he was. Joe's eyes moved off Con and roved to Frank who smiled.

Finally, Joe looked at Fenton and Joe's eyes filled with something that he couldn't quite explain. Joe couldn't remember why he was so mad and hurt at his dad, but Joe couldn't deny what he felt when he looked at Fenton. All the while Andy was whispering in his ear reminding him of how horribly his family was and how disgustingly they had treated him. Andy was playing upon Joe's emotions and twisted them to get Joe to be complaint to him.

Joe shifted his weight more to his other foot as feeling returned to his body and pain ensued. Looking around again Joe realized that Forest wasn't with him and he started to panic. Joe pulled forward slightly and that's when he felt the knife at his throat. As Joe continued to feel the cool sharpness of the knife to his skin all he wanted was Forest.

"Whe...Where's…F…" Joe's voice was raw and cracked as he tried to ask where Forest was, but his mouth wouldn't cooperate. Con heard him though and thought that Joe wanted Frank. Con motioned for Frank to come stand by him and Frank readily complied eager to be nearer his brother.

"Joe look at me. Little Bro, it's okay I'm right here. See?" Frank smiled at his brother and prayed that the visible physical injuries were the only ones that Joe had sustained. Frank's fears grew and his heart was crushed as Joe looked at him like he had no idea what Frank was talking about. Joe shook his head in the negative, so hard that Frank was afraid at any second the knife at his throat would start to gleam red with blood.

"Ahh, I think Joey here wants to see Forest. Goodness knows why he would want to see an idiotic oaf like that." Andy grinned happy that now he would still be able to hold hurting Forest over Joe's head. It worked both ways and that is how he got Forest to shoot the gun while he tried to escape with Joe. The idiot would have rather been shot then have Joe get hurt. Once Andy got Forest back for Joe then he could make Joe stay with him and his revenge would be complete.

"Are you just going to stand there like an idiot! Bring me Forest now." Andy wielded the knife impossibly closer to Joe's throat, but Joe didn't notice as he caught a glimpse of Forest being led into the room.

Joe's face lit up as Forest was brought to Con and Frank was so numbed by the hurt that he couldn't process what was happening. Frank stepped back towards his father and stood face stone like. Con, Frank, and Fenton all were wondering what the heck had happened to Joe that he would want to see one of his kidnappers more than his own brother.

Forest smiled happily as soon as he saw Joe and Joe smiled back. Andy stood there, his face glowing with his evil plan to get Joey all to himself. Andy's eyes saw Fenton standing in the back and he smiled ever bigger than before. His entire plan had started out as a simple" you hurt my son, I hurt yours" revenge but had grown into an even more wicked plan.

"Joey you okay?" Forests voice was filled with so much worry for Joe that Con, Fenton and Frank were shocked.

Joe tried to speak but his voice failed him entirely this time and he just shrugged as pain started to climb from his leg up his body.

"Let Joe go Andy. There's nowhere for you to go." Con kept his voice calm and even as his eyes kept roving back to the smile on Joe's face as he looked a Forest.

"Give me Forest and I won't hurt Joe."

"I can't give you another hostage Andy."

"Give me Forest or I WILL hurt your precious Joey." Andy was starting to panic as the possibility of not getting Forest back meant that his plan would surely fail.

"I can't give him to you Andy."

"Con, what are you doing?" Frank didn't know what was going on with Joe and Forest, but all Frank could see was the knife at Joe's throat.

"I can't give him Forest, Frank. Then he will have two hostages."

"Forest kidnapped Joe, Con! He is a kidnapper not a hostage." Frank raising his voice said.

"You think I won't do it! Give me Forest now or you will find out." Andy's voice was low and threatening as his panic started to overwhelm him.

"I ca…" Con's answer was drowned out by Joe's scream of pain as Andy had moved the knife from Joe's throat to his chest and slid it across Joe's chest cutting deep enough to bring blood to the surface and staining the top of what was left of Joe's dirty, and ripped hospital gown. That however proved to be Andy's mistake as Forest ripped himself free from Con's grasp and rushed Andy. Joe fell out of Andy's grasp and to the floor as the blood which was flowing freely from his wound was the final straw to his broken body and he passed out.

Looking up from where Joe now lay on the floor Andy saw Forest coming towards him and raised the knife to meet him, but Forest was faster, and he smashed into Andy. Andy flew back smashing the glass window and hitting the metal bars which were on the outside. The bars held for a moment and with Forest to the side of him Andy fixed his hate filled eyes on Fenton a split second before the old, rusted metal bars ripped away from the wall sending both Andy and Forest speeding down to the hard earth below.

Con rushed to the window as Fran and Fenton rushed to the long-awaited Joe. Frank held his brothers head in his lap as Fenton took of his own shirt to try and stem Joe's bleeding knife slash. Fenton took one hand from Joe's chest and remembering his radio, radioed for an ambulance to get there right away. Frank looked up at Con and asked, "Are they both dead?"


	25. The Truth Hurts

Two days later found Frank sitting in the back of his last class on Monday, tapping his foot impatiently. His whole body vibrated as he furtively glanced from his wristwatch to his teacher. The teacher looked up from his lecture on history and noticed Frank shifting uncomfortably in his chair. Everyone knew that something though they weren't quite sure what, had happened with Joe and that he was in the hospital again. So, with sympathetic eyes the teacher excused Frank from staying until the end of class.

Frank packed up his books and nodded a thank you to the teacher before racing out of the room. It had been two days since Andy and Forest had crashed through the window and dropped 4 stories to the ground below. Andy had been crushed beneath Forest and had died instantly. Forest… he didn't make it and as Frank started his and Joe's van, all he could think about was how much worry was in Forest's voice when he had talked to Joe.

" _Joey you okay?"_

No matter how many times Frank replayed it over and over in his mind. All he could hear was genuine loving worry for Joe and it bugged Frank. It didn't seem fair that Forest had that much concern in his voice for Joe not to mention calling him Joey. Joe hates being called Joey yet when Forest called him Joey, he almost looked happy. Frank was now on his way to the hospital to sit by Joe's hospital bed and relieve his dad who had been there all night. Laura had been there the night before and was now at home getting sleep.

They all were waiting for Joe to wake up. When they had gotten him to the hospital two days ago Joe had to have a minor surgery to repair damage that was done to the bullet wound in his leg. After they had done that and sutured the wound, they had looked at his chest. The doctors had put a temporary dressing on it before hand while they had been focusing on Joe's leg. Joe got 15 stitches running straight across the top of his chest, found about an inch below his clavicle bone. It would leave a big scar which unfortunately was unavoidable. The doctors had wrapped Joe's hands and took care of other small bruises and cuts on his body.

Frank prayed that the scar that was running across Joe's chest was the only scar he would have. Frank poured on the gas and raced to the hospital suddenly even more eager than before to be near his brother. Back at the hospital Fenton was rubbing his eyes tiredly and his head snapped up as out of the corner of his eye, he saw Joe's eyes flicker and his mouth move ever so slightly. Fenton moved closer and took one of Joe's bandaged hands in his own.

"Joe? Joe, buddy can you hear me?" Fenton was rewarded with Joe moving his head and his eyes roving rapidly behind his closed eye lids. "Joe, wake up son. Come on son open your eyes for me." Joe's eyes fluttered and opened to Fenton's smiling face. Fenton looked at Joe and said, "Hey Joe." Fenton didn't expect that Joe's response would be to try to get away from him, frantically scooting to the other side of the bed, eyes wide and start to yell.

"Forest? Forest, where are you?" Joe's voice was cracking terribly with everything that he had been through and when he yelled it sounded more like a screech than a voice. Fenton sat there stunned for a second unsure of how to react to Joe wanting one of his kidnappers. Not to mention Joe's response to seeing him was to get away from him. Oh, Joe Fenton thought what happened?

"Joe, it's dad buddy. What's wrong?" Fenton kept his voice calm, but his worry was starting to rise. Joe snapped his head back around to his dad and his eyes glared fiercely at his dad.

"What's wrong? You think that Frank is better than me. You love him more than me. I try to be like Frank, but you never notice. You both make me feel like I'm worthless." Joe's voice was cracking, and it wounded truly awful. Fenton didn't even notice though he was too stunned at what Joe was telling him.

But his eyes remained fierce as he turned his gaze away from Fenton and stared at the wall at the end of the room. Frank walked in surprising Fenton and Joe but what surprised Fenton more was the same fiery glare that was in Joe's eyes was now in Frank's eyes. Frank had gotten to the hospital and was outside of Joe's room just as Joe started to yell at their dad. He stood right outside the door first frozen at what Joe was brokenly saying then anger started to build up inside of him and when Joe had finished Frank had snapped.

"Dad does not love me more than you. How could you even think that? How have I or Dad ever made you feel worthless? And wanting a person who kidnapped you? I know you got shot and everything, but have you lost your mind Joe?" Frank was furious and even though the facts of what Joe was saying pushed to the surface in Frank's mind. He was too blinded by worry, jealously, and anger to take notice or even care.

Joe's eyes were just as fiery red as Frank's and his tone matched Frank's exactly except for the extreme cracking that occurred and the next higher or lower tones that ensued. "By not even asking what I wanted…"

"Like what Joe"

"You didn't even ask if I wanted to go with you on the case."

"Dad said only one could go and I went cause…"

"Cause what Frank? Cause you're older, smarter, or just the better detective?"

"No, Joe of course not! The only thing true about what you said is that I am older." Frank's anger was slowly starting to wind down like air slowly leaking out of a balloon.

"You know what hurts the most Frank? It's that you didn't even stick up for me."

"I know Joe I realized that, and I am sorr…"

"Don't even Frank. I don't want to hear that you're sorry. I always thought that if i just worked harder, did things more like Frank that Dad would look me in the eye and say I'm proud of you. But he didn't all he noticed was my mistakes. I have tried everything to be like you and I can't Frank. So, I tried whatever else I could do to make him happy. Football. Dad didn't think I should go on the case cause I had to practice for football. You acted like being a detective wasn't even important to me anymore dad." Fenton raised his head at that and said weakly

"I thought that is what you wanted, and you said yes."

"Because you wanted me too Dad. Everything I have ever done is to try and measure up to Frank or even be noticed by you for being me. I don't want to feel like I always have to prove myself to you, Dad or always try to measure up to Frank. I can't be like you Frank and i don't want to. Because what kind of brother treats his brother like that. I am done with you and Dad. I want Forest. He protected me unlike you or Dad. Forest is my brother. An actual brother who sticks up for me. and in the however long I was with him he treated me better than you have in the past week. He makes me feel safe."

"He's dead." Joe looked at Frank like he had just grown a second head.

"What?"

"Forest is dead Joe. After Andy slashed your chest you fell, and Forest rushed him. They went back through one of the windows and 4 stories down."

Joe stared at Frank in a daze.

"I'm sorry Joe. I…" Frank couldn't finish cause the tears started to spill down Joe's face and he said, "Get out."

"Joe" Frank didn't mean for Forest's death to blurt out like it had.

"I said get out! Both of you leave. I don't want you here. Just go away." Joe sank deeper into the pillows as the tears started to come harder and when Fenton put a hand on Joe's he jerked away.

"Joe, I'm sorry." Fenton stood up and pleaded with his son.

"Please just get out." It came out a whimper as Joe started to sob.

Fenton walked to Frank and tugged on his arm. Frank turned and left tears coming to the brim of his own eyes. There were hospital chairs outside of Joe's room and out of view. That is where Frank and Fenton sat down with heavy hearts. Fenton sat forward in the chair tears streaming down his face and questioning how stupid he could be not to notice his son's pain. Frank replayed in his mind everything that Joe had brokenly said, and it hurt Frank like he had never been hurt before.

It cut him down to his core because all he ever knew was taking care of his brother and making sure that he was okay. When did he start putting himself before Joe? When had he become so blind to the one person who had always been there for him? Joe was Frank's core and knowing how much that he had hurt Joe, it took away Frank's core and left him empty inside. Frank didn't know how to fix the mess he and their dad had unintentionally created.

But he wanted to get it fixed like yesterday. Because he didn't know how long he would be able to survive, the aching emptiness which had settled where he had thought his heart was.


	26. Forgiving Sins And Happy Endings

In the time that Joe had been kidnapped he had spent half of it unconscious, a quarter of it terrified and in terrible pain. The last quarter he spent feeling safe because Forest had promised to look out for him. Joe couldn't explain it but when Forest had told him that he would take care of him, Joe felt at peace. But now Forest was dead. Joe had formed a strong bond with Forest and then had Forest ripped away from him.

To say that Joe was sad would be the biggest understatement ever. Joe's heart felt like it was breaking apart as strong sobs escaped his mouth, shaking his pale and weak frame. Joe didn't know how long he had been like that only that when he was finally able to stop it was almost worse. The sound of his sobs had supplied some sort of noise but now all there was, was silence except for the beeping of the machines.

Joe hated the beeps that penetrated the air and started to make his imagination run wild. He just wanted to be alone, to be in silence to try and deal with the only person who had made him safe the last couple of days being gone. But the beeps persisted the low-pitched intermittent sounds starting to make his skin crawl in irritation.

Joe had finally had enough. If he didn't make the beeps stop, he was going to lose it. He ripped off the wires stuck to his chest, making the machines beep like crazy. Frank and Fenton raced into the room just as Joe finished detaching himself from the hated machines. Nurses started coming into the room but when Fenton saw that Joe was alright, he turned around waved the nurses off.

The nurses nodded them having heard the sobs coming from the room earlier and decided to let the family work through what they had to in peace. They would come back in later, and hook Joe back up once everything was settled. Fenton turned back to Joe and saw that the one thing Joe didn't rip out was the iv drip which was in his arm.

Fenton looked at Frank who was staring at Joe with a sad and guilt-stricken face. It broke Fenton's heart the way that Joe lay there refusing to look up and see the pain and hurt evident on Frank's face. Fenton steeled himself inside as he recognized what he had to do. if Joe hated him for the rest of his life then so be it but he wasn't going to let his boys' special bond break. If Joe wouldn't forgive him t least, he could make sure that Joe forgave Frank.

"Joe, I do love you and I can't apologize enough about the way that I have treated you."

Encouraged by Joe not telling him to leave, Fenton continued "I can't take back what I have done or how I have inadvertently made you feel Joe. Though Heaven knows I wish I could. But I won't let you take your anger at me out on Frank." Joe turned his head around about to speak but Fenton raised his hand and said "Your brother has done nothing to intentionally hurt you and if you can't look at your brothers face and see that. Then I don't know what to do Joe.

"I'm going to leave and give you two time to work this out, but Joe please just remember that we all make mistakes. I promise you that I had been a better father and had noticed what you are going through I would have stopped and helped. I love both you boys equally and you will always be more than enough for me, your mom, and Frank. If anyone ever tells you other wise or you feel otherwise talk us Joe. We want to help and fix it but only if you let us.

"I don't want you to be like Frank, Joe. I want you to be you and I am an idiot for not seeing that." Joe looked up at his dad with a little glint in his eyes and Fenton walked closer to the bed and leaned over it. He put a hand on Joe's shoulder and looked him straight in the eyes.

"Listen to these words Joseph Irving Hardy. I am so proud of you. I am proud of the amazing detective you have become, I am proud of the way that you care for others, and I am so proud that you have never let anything that gets in between you and Frank to last long. You and Frank are closer to each other and love each other more than I have ever seen anyone else. I am so proud of both of you for following in your old man's footsteps and for being loyal brothers. Always know that I love you both."

By the time Fenton finished not a single pair of Hardy eyes in the room was dry. Fenton straightened up and turned to leave but found his hand caught in Joe's grip. He turned back around and found himself being drawn down into his son's forgiving embrace. Joe whispered into Fenton's ear "I am so sorry Dad." Fenton smiled through the tears and whispered back

"Nothing to be sorry for son. It was my fault for not seeing how the way that I was treating you was affecting you. I am so sorry Joe." Joe didn't waste a second in tightening his weakened arms around his father and whispering slightly stronger

"I forgive you dad."

Joe let go a moment later and Fenton left happy through the tears that almost blinded him as he walked out into the hall. He sat down and thanked Heaven that he had such amazing and forgiving boys to call his own. Realizing that he hadn't called Laura, yet he took out his phone and did so. Frank stood in silence at the end of Joe's bed silently wiping his eyes on his sleeve as Joe did the same.

Joe fumbled around on the bed for the remote for the bed grinning slightly when he found it. He pressed a button and the bed's back slowly raised him up with a mechanical whir. Now that he was sitting up instead of lying down Joe looked at Frank. They didn't have to say a word. One look at Joe's eyes and Frank walked over to Joe. Frank sat on the edge of the bed by him and waited quietly. Joe tried to scoot over but when he tried to move his leg, he let out a sharp gasp of pain.

Frank asked Joe with his eyes if he wanted his help and Joe nodded. Frank went to the other side of the bed and on both of their heads nodding frank lifted Joe's injured leg and Joe scooted the rest of his body over. Normally Frank would have said no because Joe had been in surgery just two days ago. But he needed to help heal Joe mentally before Joe could heal physically. Besides, he would do anything to get his brother back.

Frank went back over to the other side and sat by Joe so that they were now side by side. Joe patted Frank's arm and motioned at Frank's legs. Frank grinned and kicking off his shoes put his feet up on the bed. They sat there for a moment letting the feeling of being back together again seep into their hearts. Joe leaned heavier against Frank's shoulder and put his head on his shoulder.

"I am so sorry Frank." Joe almost couldn't finish because of the catch he got in his throat.

"No, Joe I am the one who is sorry. I was wrapped up in myself that I didn't see that you were hurting. It was so plain right in front of my face and couldn't see it. I must be the worst brother ever."

"You're not the worst Frank, you're the best. I could have gone to you, but I was stupid and didn't."

"Joe promise me one thing."

"What?" Joe asked curiosity spiked.

"Promise me that if you ever feel like that again that you will come to be no matter what." Joe smiled and Frank looked down at his brother whose head lay upon his shoulder and Joe promised. Relieved that everything was going to work out Frank lay his head back on the bed and with Joe leaning against him they both promptly fell asleep. Frank woke up an hour later when the nurses came back to hook Joe up to the monitoring machines.

Frank looked down at Joe and saw that he was still asleep. Frank made a move to get off the bed, but the nurses stopped him. They made quick work of hooking Joe back up and changed his iv drip which was almost dry. Frank looked at Joe's face so peaceful in sleep and smiled. Frank remembered when Joe used to climb into his bed when they were younger because he was afraid of the monsters in the dark. Frank had protected him then but when the monster had kidnapped Joe Frank had failed him.

Yet here he was and now it was Joe that was letting Frank sleep next him. Frank may have never forgiven himself for letting Joe get hurt if Joe hadn't said that he forgave him. Frank realized in that moment that Joe protected and made sure that Frank was okay just as much as Frank did. They were a team no matter what.

It would take weeks for Joe's physical to heal but Joe's loving nature had let his mental scars heal. Frank remembered hearing the good news that Biff was going home at the end of the week. Once Joe got home Biff could come over and they could do homework together while Frank was at school. Frank wasn't going to let jealousy get the better of him again. He had let it gain control of him and he hadn't seen how much forest had meant to Joe.

But now that Forest was gone Frank knew that he should have been grateful not jealous that Forest had protected his brother, even at the cost of his own life. The nurses finished up and left. With the rush of thoughts and feelings dwindling Frank settled back down to sleep. Fenton and Laura stood outside of the room peeking in on their sons. Con joined them a moment later. Con had given Laura a ride to the hospital and they had arrived outside of Joe's hospital room moments ago.

The nurses came back out and one of them stopped and told Laura and Fenton that they thought it was simply wonderful how much their sons cared for each other.

Fenton, Laura, and Con couldn't agree more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you're reading this then you have successfully finished reading my story! THANK YOU!!!!! please comment! not quite sure how kudos work but please leave them too!!!


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